They Call Him Professor Glitter
by sourbrows
Summary: All human AU. Derek is raising his three children alone after the death of his husband, and Mr. Stilinski is the most annoying teacher he's ever had to deal with. Partially because he keeps sending Boyd home covered in glitter, and partially because his eyes are the prettiest colour Derek has ever seen. Derek/Stiles. Mentions of past Derek/Scott


NOTE; If you've read this already, you should start over. You will only recognize about half of the story. It's a completely different story , though it has a similar backbone. Volume II will be posted in short time.

Chapter 1: Smelly Old School

Derek awoke to an insistent chorus of "'Dad'" with a soft, questioning '"Daddy'" thrown in somewhere close to his ear. He could hear the springs in his bed groan in protest as two pairs of tiny feet bounced up and down on it. He mimicked the noise when they started landing painfully on his arm and side. He opened his eyes slowly, greeted by Boyd's tiny face peeking over the edge of the bed.

"Are you awake now, daddy?" Boyd questioned, his wide eyes glancing between his dad and his siblings jumping up and down on the bed. Derek looked at the clock by the bed and sighed. It was only eight, no one should be up at eight on a Sunday, it was unnatural.

"Com'ere you." He grunted out, rolling over to flop on his back. The twins ceased their jumping and threw themselves down on his chest instantly, making happy noises that only children could make. Boyd climbed up onto the bed quietly, lifting Derek's arm up and around himself.

"Dad, dad, do you remember what today is, do you?" Isaac asked from his seat on Derek's stomach, buzzing like he was about to tell Derek the secret of the universe.

"What, Bug?" he asked, reaching out almost absentmindedly to smooth out a knot in Erica's long hair. She refused to let him brush it for her anymore, but he would always run his fingers through it whenever she was in his lap.

"Today is school shopping day! We get all new clothes this year, right dad? Right?" Isaac asked, leaning forward and pressing his face as close to Derek's as he could. Derek raised an eyebrow and looked at both twins, holding back a smile at the looks on their hopeful faces.

"Hm, I don't know." He mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He would end up buying them everything they wanted as usual, but he liked to keep them on their toes.

"Come on, dad." Erica whined, making dad a two syllable word. She knitted her eyebrows together, pouting in the way she'd perfected specifically to use against Derek.

"Alright, but you guys better hurry and go get dressed, before all the good stuff is taken by the other kids." He said, stretching his free arm over his head and yawning soundlessly. Isaac and Erica shared a look that clearly showed their horror at the idea of the other kids having the best stuff, and then they were bounding away, bouncing off the end of the bed noisily. Derek rubbed the sleep from his eyes, relaxing back into the bed for a moment before he had to get up.

"Daddy?" Boyd whispered from where his face was buried in Derek's underarm. He'd never understand how the boy could stick his nose there first thing in the morning, but it had always been his favourite place to hide. Derek wrapped his arm tighter around Boyd.

"What is it?" Derek asked, standing up, maneuvering the boy so he was perched on his hip. It was second nature to him now, moving with the kids as a unit, swinging them back and forth without missing a beat. Boyd wrapped one of his small arms around Derek's neck, using his other hand to cup his ear. Derek tilted his head towards the boy, knowing he wanted to share a secret.

"I'm scared. I don't want to go to school." He whispered. Derek knew he would be like this, knew he wouldn't want to leave Derek's side and spend the day in a room full of strangers. Boyd had never been good with people, he'd even been scared of Derek and Scott when they'd first brought him home. Derek winced internally, just like he did every time he thought of Scott.

"It'll be okay, I promise." Derek said, rubbing his hand along Boyd's back gently as he opened his drawers to get clean underclothes. "Your brother and sister love school, aren't you at least curious?" He loosed his hold on Boyd slowly, letting the boy slide down his side until his feet were touching the floor. Boyd kept his hands wrapped around Derek's leg, looking up at him like he was out of his mind.

"Isaac and Erica are weird." He said simply, like there was no way Derek could argue with that and it was settled. Derek just smiled softly; rubbing the top of Boyd's shaved head gently.

"Go get dressed, and we'll go shopping. Maybe you'll change your mind when you see all the cool stuff you can get, okay?" He was too tired to make a real argument with the boy. He hadn't gotten to sleep until well after midnight, and after working nonstop the day before, his body was protesting him being up at all. Boyd gave him a look like he didn't believe him, but he padded off to his room, leaving Derek alone to get ready.

Derek was dressed and pouring himself a cup of coffee by the time the twins came stomping down the stairs. Derek couldn't help but let out a chuckle when Erica stopped at the bottom to twirl for him, showing off the giant red tutu she had on over her jeans. She had one of Derek's black button- up shirts on over everything, the sleeves folded and rolled up and still too long for her. She told Derek it was a trench coat and he couldn't have it back until he bought her one of her own.

He set cereal bowls on the bar counter as the kids climbed onto the stools, talking excitedly about what they wanted to buy and how much fun they just _knew_ they were going to have today. Derek made Erica take her anticonvulsants before she ate. She hadn't had a seizure for a while, the new medication is working the way it should, and Derek silently hoped that it'd keep doing it every time she took the pill.

Boyd joined them at the bar counter and the kids ate their breakfast noisily and, in Isaac's case, messily. Boyd seemed to be grudgingly excited about spending the day shopping, smiling at Derek as the man planned out the day on his phone.

xx

Derek had been expecting Boyd to be difficult Monday morning. He'd expected the pouting, the refusing to get dressed, and even the not eating. What he didn't expect was Boyd clinging to his neck, screaming at the top of his lungs. He could feel the wetness from his tears soaking through his shirt as he stood there in the middle of the school hallway, clutching his screaming child. He put his hands under Boyd's armpits and lifted him up, holding him in front of him so they were face to face. He didn't know what to do;, he was just staring at his son. Boyd refused to look at him, shaking his head back and forth. He flailed his hands out and hit Derek in the face, he screamed at him that he hates him, that he's the worst dad in the world.

Derek's arms started to with the effort of holding Boyd out in front of him. The only thought in his head was how he wished Scott was there. When Boyd was still a baby and he'd cry Scott would be the one to hold him, to rock him until he fell asleep in his arms. Scott was a better father than he was, and now he was standing here scowling at a screaming five year old with no idea what to do, trying to ignore the ache in his heart.

The door to the classroom Boyd was supposed to be in opened and a man stuck his head out, eyes wide with shock at the scene in front of him. Derek was aware of other people's eyes on him, but he wasn't paying attention to them. Boyd had never acted like this, and he'd never had to deal with a temper tantrum of this level before.

"Hey. Hey now, what's going on out here?" The man in the doorway said, looking from Boyd to Derek with confusion on his face. Derek assumed he was the teacher, Boyd's teacher.

"He doesn't want to go to school." Derek said simply, sighing. The muscles in his arms protested when Boyd's small fist collided with his bicep, so he folded the boy against his chest again.

"Oh my, well what are we going to do about that? Uh, hey there little guy, it's okay." the teacher said, stepping forward, his hand hovering in the air, like he was going to reach out and touch Boyd but he wasn't sure if he should. "Let me tell you, school is great. Especially kindergarten, oh man." The teacher was smiling so hard it hurt Derek to watch, and Boyd wasn't even looking at him, just kept punching Derek in the chest and crying. "Hey, let's make a deal okay? I'll let you pick out what we learn about today, how's that?" he said, the smile faltering a bit when Boyd just whined angrily. "What's your favourite thing in the world? Dinosaurs? Race cars?" the teacher looked at Derek pleadingly.

"Ice skating." Derek said.

"Great! I'll tell you all about famous ice skaters, and the history of the sport, all kinds of stuff, how about that?" and Boyd stopped punching Derek long enough to look at his teacher over his shoulder. He could see Boyd sizing him up, trying to see if he trusted the man.

"Doesn't that sound great, Boyd?" Derek asked, smiling at him.

"Daddy, why can't you teach me that stuff? Why do I have to come to this smelly old school?" Boyd asked, frowning at the teacher.

"I don't know any of the stuff your teacher does, he knows everything there is to know, especially about ice skating." Derek looked at the teacher almost apologetically, hoping the man did know at least something about the sport. Other parents and students were passing them, going into the classroom. They looked at Derek with an expression he was used to, it was the curious look he got almost every time he went into public with Boyd. It had stopped offending him years ago.

"That's true, I do know everything. I even know how to make candy from scratch, and how to build a working airplane out of toothpicks. No offence to your daddy, but toothpick mechanics is a very delicate art only suited to those who know the secret form. If you come inside, I might share it with you, Boyd." He said, the hand that was hovering in the air gesturing to the door, inviting Boyd in personally. Derek felt Boyd relax, and so he bent down to set the boy on the floor, still holding his hand.

"Are you gonna teach us how to make turkey's like my big brother made?" Boyd asked, still sniffling. The teacher flicked his eyes up to Derek and he held up his hand, fingers splayed, to help him understand what Boyd meant.

"Oh yeah! A hand turkey, it's a very intricate process. Your big brother must have had a very, very smart teacher."

"No, he said she smelled like butts." Boyd said, and next thing they knew he shook loose from Derek's hand and raced into the classroom.

"Uh, wow." The teacher said, staring at the empty spot Boyd had just occupied. "You think I'd be used to the mood swings of children by now." He looked up at Derek, smiling softly. "Uh, I'm Stilinski, by the way. I guess I'm Boyd's teacher." He held out his hand and Derek took it gently. He was surprised when Mr. Stilinkski gripped his fingers tight, shaking his hand vigorously.

"I'm Derek Hale, Boyd's father." Mr. Stilinski's smile seemed to grow even bigger.

"Wow! I mean yeah, of course you are. Wow. Cool. Great." He let go of Derek's hand and rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck, chuckling softly. His eyes crinkled and Derek noted that they were an unusual colour, lighter than brown, but darker than hazel. Sort of like honey, it was interesting.

"Right." Derek said, turning his body away from the teacher. "My number is on file, all my kids go here. If there are any problems, just, call." He said, making an awkward gesture with his hand, indicating his ear.

It was only as he was walking away that he realized how young Mr. Stilinski had been. Young and cute. Oh crap.

Chapter 2: To the dogs, or whatever

It turns out Mr. Stilinski probably hadn't said he thought kindergarten was the best just for Boyd's benefit. The boy tracked more glitter and paper scraps through the house in his first week of school than Derek had the time to clean. Boyd had crept into his room the night of his first day and apologized for the things he said, assuring Derek that he was the best dad in the world and he wanted to stay with him always. He didn't like going to school, and he complained that Mr. Stilinski was too loud, and he wasn't learning anything. Derek was just happy he was agreeing to go and actually participating in some of the class activities.

Just over two weeks into the school year, his boss called him in the middle of the night, after he'd gotten his own midnight call about a large number of cats who had been rescued in the area and needed emergency medical attention. The humane society called Deaton, and Deaton called Derek. There were dozens of cats, and the staff they had wasn't nearly enough. It took them nearly eight hours to get all the cats looked at, with a handful of them now waiting for more intensive surgeries. Deaton had him crate up as many of them as they could to take them back to their clinic. He got home just in time for his kids to be up and panicking because he wasn't there.

It was the first time Boyd had ever been late to school, and he was nervous. After his brother and sister ran off towards the front office he just sat in the car, frowning out the window. He eventually asked Derek to go in with him, just in case the other kids made fun of him. Derek rubbed his hands against his eyes hard enough to see patterns, before turning the car off and climbing out. Boyd's tiny little fingers were like a vice on his tired hand as the boy tried his best to hide behind Derek's leg. He knew the protocol for tardy children; check in at the office so they can update the attendance sheets. Derek was just too tired, so he marched Boyd right past the front office and into the main building towards his class room. He could hear all the classes making noise, but the class Boyd was in was the loudest. He could hear Mr. Stilinski shouting excitedly, and the kids hollering back to him. Boyd groaned beside him, lolling his head and acting like he was dying just from walking down the hallway.

It took Derek clearing his throat twice, the sound coming out as a near growl, for Mr. Stilinski to turn and notice him. He held up a finger to him, asking him to wait there. Derek rolled his eyes, leaning against the door frame while Boyd rushed to his seat. Mr. Stilinski got the kids set up with a project and then ushered Derek out into the hallway, shutting the door behind them.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hale. I know you're probably busy but I've been meaning to get a hold of you, but I never found the time and then I maybe kind of forgot a little? I was going to tell Boyd to take home a letter for you, actually but, hey, here you are. I wanted to talk to you, about Boyd, obviously." Mr. Stilinski talked animatedly, gesturing to absolutely nothing and holding his mouth open for far longer than necessary, just letting air out. He seemed to grow uncomfortable when Derek didn't say anything at first.

"Right." Derek rasped, wishing he'd refused Boyd's request to walk him in.

"I don't want to be intrusive, but, hm. How do I say this without offending you? You're, uh," Mr. Stilinski made a grasping motion in the air, like he could pluck the answer out of nowhere.

"White?" Derek said, folding his arms over his chest.

"Why yes, yes you are," he said after a pause, hesitating. "But I was going to say that you're not very involved in Boyd's schoolwork, are you?"

"Oh." Derek suddenly felt ridiculous. He was so used to people asking questions about Boyd's race that he had come to expect it. "Well no, I'm not. He does it though, doesn't he?"

"Well, yes, but he doesn't care about it. I had the kids fill out a survey, an ice breaker thing. It had a list of questions and Boyd answered every single one with 'Batman.' Now don't get me wrong, I love Batman, but he just doesn't seem motivated. I know he doesn't want to be here, but I think it's mostly because he misses you. If you got more involved, it might make him more inclined to take an interest in the work." Mr. Stilinski had actually lifted his arms over his head and flapped them when he said he loved Batman, and Derek lost his focus for a second, needing a moment to catch up on what the man had said.

"He didn't act that way when I left him with the sitter to go to work. I work every day, it's not new to him to be separated from me." Derek said, looking through the glass door at Boyd, who was sitting with his head in his hands, staring at the desk in front of him. The other kids were working busily on their assignments around him, but he just sat there.

"Well, did the sitter come to your house?" he asked, and then paused, waiting for Derek to reply. He just nodded, and the man continued. "That's his safe place, the place he knows, the place he associates with you. He was used to you going to work, but he was also used to you coming home. Now he's here and he has nothing here to associate with you, not yet anyway."

Derek had just opened his mouth to say something when there was a commotion from inside the classroom. They both turned at the same time, and Mr. Stilinski let out a quiet "oh fuck" before he was tearing the door open and stomping across the floor, shouting in a happy voice. Derek snorted, the man switched modes at the drop of a hat. Or in this case, glue pot.

xx

Derek actually did try to be more involved in all his kid's school work. When he got off work and relieved the babysitter, he'd sit down and help them with their homework, ask them about what they learned that day, and more than once he was roped into helping with an art project. Helping with Boyd's led to him finding glitter in his hair for about two weeks. Even Erica never used that much glitter, but Boyd insisted that Mr. Stilinski said more glitter was better. Derek was actually pleased that Boyd was listening to his teacher now; he just wished it didn't have to be about glitter.

"Daddy, Mr. Stilinski says it's my turn to bring home the class hamster." Boyd said one day as he was climbing into the car.

"Okay. Well where is it?" Derek asked, already annoyed with what he would need to do to take care of it.

"Not here. He told him you would feed the hamster to your dogs if he brought it home." Isaac said, leaning between the seats to look up at Derek's face.

"Why would you tell him that, Boyd?" Derek asked, leaning back to buckle Isaac into his seat.

"Cause' if he makes me take the hamster home I'm gonna feed it to one of the dogs where you work." Boyd said angrily.

"Ew! Dad, you can't let him do that!" Erica shrieked.

"No, nobody is going to do that." Derek signed, banging his head against his headrest. "We're taking the hamster home, alright? Everybody, get out of the car." He undid his seatbelt forcefully, the metal making a loud noise where it smacked against the window of the door. Isaac and Erica stumbled out of the car quickly, pushing against each other the way they always did. Boyd was slower to get out of the car.

"Is Boyd in trouble, Dad?" Isaac asked, reaching out and taking Derek's hand.

"Not if he apologizes to Mr. Stilinski, he won't be." He said, putting his hand on Boyd's back, between his shoulder blades. Erica laughed, and Derek glared at her. She skipped ahead of them, heading into the school. She had no idea where Boyd's class was though, so she had to fall back in line, pushing Isaac out of the way to grasp Derek's hand, saying it was her right because she was the girl.

The door to Mr. Stilinski's class room was wide open, but Derek knocked anyway. Mr. Stilinski was behind his desk, going through a disorganized stack of papers. He looked up with a smile on his face, but it faltered when he saw Derek standing there.

"Ah, Mr. Hale? Is everything alright?" He asked, standing up and taking a few steps towards them.

"Boyd was supposed to bring home the pet hamster, and I'm told he threatened it, instead." Derek said, pushing Boyd forward. The boy was looking at the floor like he was trying to make it catch fire with his mind.

"Yes, I suppose he did." Mr. Stilinski bent down, trying to get eye level with Boyd, but the boy refused to look at him. "He said his dad would feed it to his dogs."

"We don't have any pets. The hamster would be perfectly safe with us, Boyd just wanted to get out of his responsibility." Derek said, his hand flexing around Erica's briefly.

"Us, eh?" Mr. Stilinski asked, standing up straight to look from Derek to the twins. "So this must be the rest of the Hale pack, huh?" Stiles smiled hesitantly at Derek.

"Isaac, Erica, say hello to Boyd's teacher."

"Hello Boyd's teacher." They said at the same time.

"You're handsome." Erica said on her own. "You remind me of Sid." Derek couldn't help but snort at his daughter's words.

"Sid?" Mr. Stilinski asked, directing the question at Derek.

"Toy Story, she has a crush on the neighbor kid from the first movie." Derek said.

"It's not a crush!" she hissed. Mr. Stilinski's eyebrows shot up, like he's a little terrified of her. Derek put his finger to his mouth, indicated for Erica to be quiet. The adults turned their attention back to Boyd, who was still staring at the ground angrily.

"Boyd?" Mr. Stilinski asked, this time crouching down in front of the boy, reaching out to poke him in the elbow gently. "How come you don't want to take Hampton home?"

"He's stupid." Boyd said, kicking the ground.

"Boyd!" Derek snaped, and Mr. Stilinski looked up at him, eyes wide.

"Mr. Hale, it's alright." Mr. Stilinski started, but Derek cut him off.

"Just give me the hamster. Stupid or not, we're taking it home. Boyd, apologize to Mr. Stilinski." Derek was losing his patience.

"If Boyd really doesn't want to take Hampton he doesn't have to. A hamster can be difficult to take care of."

"I'm a vet, I can handle a hamster. Are you giving it to me or not Stilinski?" Derek moved forward, stepping up behind Boyd. Mr. Stilinski looked up at him from where he was crouched on the floor, shock written across his face clearly. Shock and a bit of fear.

"I think we'll let someone else take him this week, Mr. Hale. It's okay, really." Mr. Stilinski moved to touch Boyd's arm again but stopped himself, standing up to look at Derek. He was only about an inch shorter, but Derek was definitely wider.

"Fine, then we'll go as soon as Boyd apologizes." He said.

"Come on Boyd, I want to go home already." Isaac whined, hooking his arm through Derek's and letting his body hang off his dad's wrist.

"Fine! I'm sorry, whatever." Boyd said, looking up at Mr. Stilinski for the first time.

"It's alright Boyd, it's not a problem at all. We'll find an animal you do like for you to take home, okay?" Mr. Stilinski was bargaining with Boyd again, something he seemed to be genius at. Boyd just shrugged, and Derek steered his children out of the classroom and back to his car.

Halfway through the drive it really hit him that Mr. Stilinski had been genuinely scared of him when was standing over him. The idea made his stomach turn with a feeling he didn't want to admit to, something he hadn't felt in a long time.

Chapter 3: Lizards are SO stupid

It turned out the animal Boyd liked was a lizard, and Mr. Stilinski really had gotten one for the class. It wasn't Derek's favourite thing when Boyd slid into the car with a cage in his arms, but at least the boy was smiling about something school related.

"It's called Jackson." Boyd was telling Isaac, who was equally fascinated with the creature. Erica thought it was gross, and made it clear that if anyone got it near her she'd scratch their eyes out.

It had always amused Derek how much like himself she was, people had been able to tell he was her dad at parent-teacher nights, because their personalities (see; attitudes) were so similar. She was feisty and quick to anger, and she had never yet cared what people thought of her. When she first started having seizures, the other kids in class had picked on her. Derek had been furious, but Erica had handled it herself. She never let it get to her, and Derek knew when she grew up, she was going to be a heartbreaker.

Isaac was more like Scott, energetic, easily distracted, but kind. Isaac worried about his sister almost as much as Derek did. If she tripped he would hold her hand to make sure she didn't fall. Sometimes Isaac would look at him and he'd see Scott so clearly in his expression that it hurt. It was the only time he was glad all his children were adopted. If Isaac looked physically like his husband as well, it'd probably be harder for him.

Sometimes he felt pathetic, still being unable to think about Scott without it hurting, after four years. He had never been one to believe in love at first sight, but with Scott, it had been damn close. There had been something about him, something that drew Derek in from the moment he met him. He'd had to pursue the hell out of him before Scott finally agreed to go on a date with him, but from that first date on, he'd been in love.

It might have been easier for him is Scott had gotten sick, if they'd been expecting something to happen. If he'd had time to understand what it would mean when Scott suddenly wasn't there anymore. It might have been easier if they hadn't just adopted a baby from Ethiopia who needed Scott a hell of a lot more than he needed Derek. It might have been easier if they'd found the lower half of Scott's body, if they'd solved the murder. It'd definitely be a hell of a lot easier if he had been the first person Derek had lost, not the eleventh.

Derek had only dated one man since Scott's death. Once Boyd was old enough to be left alone over night with the sitter, he'd started a relationship with a guy he'd met in the clinic. He had a dog, and the dog liked Derek. Though, all animal liked Derek. He had a way with them, even Deaton called him the Animal Whisperer. Danny had seen it as a miracle though, and had asked Derek out to coffee. There ended up being lots of coffee, some dinners, and then some sex. The sex had been amazing with Danny, but that was it. After they got through telling each other about themselves and talking about sports teams, there was nothing to say. There was more sex than Derek had originally intended on, but hey, Danny _really_ was good.

It wasn't until he'd broken things off that the pain of missing Scott had seeped in. He didn't feel guilty about being with Danny, he joked with himself that Scott would have found him even sexier than Derek had. He just knew that being with Danny confirmed that Scott was gone, that he was no longer a husband, he was a widower.

The twins had only been five when Scott died, but Scott had played more of a parenting role than Derek ever had. He'd worked from home, so the kids spent all their time with him. When he got home from work at night it was to eat dinner with the kids, tuck them in, and then climb into bed with Scott. Scott would tell him what the kids had learned, what milestone they had reached. Derek had missed Isaac and Erica's first steps, but Scott had called him at work, nearly crying in his joy as their babies stood up and walked for the first time in their lives. Scott had wanted kids first, had asked Derek if he wanted them too. If it hadn't been for Scott Derek would have never been a father in the first place.

Isaac took it harder than Erica when Scott died. He'd screamed and cried when they lowered Scott into the ground. Derek had been throwing up behind a tree, thinking too much about the fact that it was only half of his husband in the coffin. Scott's mother had picked up Isaac and comforted him, while Derek was sitting on the ground twenty yards away sobbing and nearly choking on his own bile. Erica had come to find him, and draped herself across his back. She hadn't said anything, and Derek just focused on the warmth of her until he stopped gagging.

As far as Derek could tell Boyd barely remembered Scott. He knew who he was, of course, but he didn't get sad on Scott's birthday, and Derek had never found a picture of Scott stuffed under his pillow like he had with Isaac. The first and only time Derek had ever cried in a public shop was when he'd taken Boyd to the grocery store with him a few months after the funeral and the boy had called him 'papa.' Derek was always dad or daddy while Scott had been papa. Boyd never called him that again, and he'd never gone back to that Safeway because he was _pretty_ sure the security footage of him bursting into tears and spilling an entire bag of rice all over the aisle still existed somewhere.

So maybe Derek was damaged. Maybe he was damaging his kids by shutting himself off emotionally from the world, but he still hadn't quite found a way to live his life without Scott.

A part of him kept waiting for someone to come along and show him how, to pull him and his kids out of the rut he'd dragged them into and show them how to actually enjoy life again. He hoped for it, but he wasn't expecting it.

xx

Jackson was a little shit. He'd escaped his cage twice and both times Erica had been the one to find him. The first time she tried to step on him, and she would have succeeded if Derek hadn't grabbed her and lifted her away. The second time she just stood there screaming about how much she hated boys until Derek picked Jackson up and stuffed him back into his cage. Mr. Stilinski had told Boyd to keep the lizard for a week, but Derek was sick of it by day three. He got the feeling that the teacher didn't really like him, and after the hamster fiasco he wasn't exactly itching to go in there and demand the man take the reptile off his hands.

"Jackson is so cool, dad. He's got fangs in his mouth and he's even got a tail! His tail is so cool he can fling it around all over the place. I wish my class had a lizard, too." Isaac spent more time looking after the lizard than Boyd did. He was pretty sure Isaac would be upset when it came time to take the lizard back to class.

"He looks like a moldy sausage with legs." Erica said, making a noise in the back of her throat. They were all in the living room, Derek laying on the couch with Isaac sitting on his stomach, as the kids did homework. Erica was curled up in the arm chair, scowling at her math worksheet, while Boyd lay on the floor next to Jackson's cage, filling out the journal log Mr. Stilinski told him to write on the lizard while he stayed with them.

"You're a moldy sausage with legs." Isaac said, sticking his tongue out at his sister.

"Hey, now, we have a rule about insults." Derek said, poking Isaac in the ribs. Isaac groaned, and Derek poked him again. "Tell me what the rule is."

"We can only insult people who aren't part of the family." Isaac recited, squirming away from Derek's hands. "Like Ms. Argent. Ew. She smells like a bar-b-que, and I'm pretty sure she's related to the Joker." Kate Argent was the twin's teacher, and Derek had to agree with Isaac that she was incredibly creepy. She'd come on to him the first time they met, and she had only laughed loudly when he shot her down. She did smell, but it was like ash, not bar-b-que. Derek didn't like her at all, but he had to admit that she was a good teacher, strict with the kids in a way that actually made them determined to learn.

"The Joker isn't even real, doofus. She just smiles a lot, so what?" Erica retorted. Derek wondered if Erica would be like Ms. Argent when she grew up, and he shuddered internally at the idea.

"Her smile is creepy. Like she's plotting something evil." He whispered the last part, making a face and waggling his fingers at Erica.

"Yeah, like giving us math homework." She said, dropping her pencil onto her lap and groaning.

"Bring it here." Derek said, holding out his hand to her. He poked Isaac with his other hand until he scooted off of him so he could sit up, pulling Erica into his lap while Isaac crammed himself against his side. He knew they would outgrow the need to have physical contact with him one day, so he cherished it as much as he could. He was always seeking them out, pulling them to him, and holding their hands. They were his world, and snuggling up with them was something he almost needed.

"I don't like math, math is for grownups." She said, settling herself against Derek's chest, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout.

"Nice try, but I'm not going to do it for you, I'm just going to help you." He told her, pinching her nose gently. When everyone had finished their homework Derek checked it, making sure it was all filled out and correct. Boyd's journal was the last thing he checked, and he nearly dropped it in horror when he opened it.

The entire thing was covered in glitter.

Chapter 4: Stiles Stilinski, lord of glitter

Jackson hated his cage. He hated it almost as much as Derek hated Jackson. Now the little shit was _in his car_, having slithered under the seat on the way to school on the day Boyd was due to take him back.

"You little motherfucker, when I find you, I'm turning you into a purse for Erica." He growled, stuffing his arm under the seat to try and find the thing.

"Not gonna give him to the dogs?" A voice behind him said. Derek just sighed, already annoyed and not looking for more reasons to be.

"I told you, we don't have dogs. Luckily for Jackson." Derek tried to peer under the seat but it was too dark.

"Uh, do you mind if I take a look?" Mr. Stilinski asked, taking a step closer to the car.

"You're supposed to be teaching a class, aren't you?" Derek snapped, sticking his arm back under the seat, smacking the floor of the car pointlessly.

"Dude, no, not today. School assembly? There was a memo." Right. Memo, the one he'd glanced at and thrown to the side when it hadn't had a place for him to sign and return.

"Then fine. You get in here and get your _stupid_ lizard out of my car." He snarled, getting up and wiping his palms against his thighs. Mr. Stilinski bent down to look under the seat where Derek's hand had just been. Derek had never paid attention to the kind of clothes the man wore, but now he was suddenly painfully aware of them. He wore jeans low on his hips, so that the top of his boxers (briefs?) showed when he bent over. He had a cotton t-shirt on that looked worn and soft. It looked like he'd had it for years, if the way it pulled up in the back and fit tight across his shoulder blades was any indication. Mr. Stilinski was kneeling on the ground, his arm searching under the seat of Derek's car for the lost lizard, and Derek was standing maybe a foot behind him, looking down at his ass. His back, he was looking at his back, nothing else. _His back._

"Come on, Jackson. Be a good little lizard, for fuck sake." Mr. Stilinski said, his voice muffled from his face being pressed up against the car seat. "I only got your scaly ass so Boyd would stop looking like he wants to rip my throat out, so it'd be very counterproductive for you to roast to death in his dad's car, that's just cruel. To me, you're being cruel to me and I've been nothing but good to you." Derek was pretty sure Mr. Stilinski didn't even realize he was talking out loud.

Derek was trying to think of something to say to get the man to shut up when he cried out. Derek thought he'd hurt himself, but he stood up quickly with Jackson squirming around in his hand. He made the noise again, it was a whopping sound.

"I got him, I did it." Mr. Stilinski said, holding Jackson up in front of Derek's face.

"Good." He said, crowding into Mr. Stilinski's space to pull the cage out of the car. "No take him out of my sight."

"I thought you were good with animals." He said, placing Jackson in the cage as gently as he could. Derek just glared at him, and Mr. Stilinski seemed to squirm under his stare. "Right well, I guess lizards are a bit harder to control than a hamster." Mr. Stilinski was just standing in the open door of Derek's car, clutching Jackson's cage to his chest.

"Mr. Stilinski," Derek started, was going to ask him to move.

"Stiles." The man said, interrupting him. "You can call me Stiles, you're not one of my students after all. That would be weird, if you were."

"Stiles, then. If you're not getting in the car, you shouldn't stand in the door." He said, swinging the door a little closer to Stiles' body.

"Oh, okay." He said quickly, and to Derek's surprise he slid into the car, snatching the door from Derek's hand and closing it behind him.

"You've got to be kidding me." Derek said, too quietly for Stiles to actually hear him.

"This is a really nice car." Stiles said, looking around happily when Derek slid in on the driver's side.

"I wasn't inviting you to actually get in it, I was telling you to go away." Derek said, pulling his door shut harder than needed.

"Well aren't you rude." Stiles said, turning around to set Jackson in the back seat. Derek eyed the lizard carefully. If it got anywhere near the door to it's cage he was going to kick it and Stiles out by force.

"This is my car, and I have to go to work." Derek said.

"You drive a four door Camaro. That just screams 'I'm badass but I'm also a dad so you better watch out.'" Stiles said, reaching out to push one of the buttons on the dashboard. Derek grabbed his wrist, jerking his arm back. Stiles let out a high pitched sound of pain.

"Get out of my car, Stiles Stilinski." Derek said, and to his great displeasure Stiles' burst out laughing.

"Stiles is short_ for_ Stilinski, it's not my first name." He said, squeaking when Derek tightened his grip on his wrist. He could feel the bone underneath shift, knew it was going to bruise.

"Stiles. Just get out of my car before I force feed you your lizard." He said, letting go of the man's wrist. Stiles reached around to grab Jackson before scrambling quickly from the car.

"I can see where Boyd gets his sourness from." He said as he swung the door shut. Derek just drove away, squealing his tires. He realized there was a lingering smell of Axe in his car, which could only be from Stiles rubbing his ass all over his seats. Derek groaned, wanting to smack his face against the steering wheel at the images his mind provided him with that thought. Stiles' was strange, and kind of annoying, but he was still a well-built man with little to no deformities and Derek hadn't been laid in a long, long time. His body and mind had stopped communicating properly around attractive men a while ago.

That damn Stiles Stilinski was the bane of his existence.

xx

Glitter. Glitter was everywhere. Derek stood in the center of the living room, clenching his fists at his sides, willing himself not to have a heart attack at age thirty because that would just be embarrassing. Death by glitter, not how he wanted to go.

"It just went poof." Boyd said. If you didn't know there was a small boy standing there you'd have missed him, he was just as covered in glitter as the rest of the room. Mr. Stilinski had provided him with a deluxe bag of glitter. Deluxe was code for five fucking pounds of glitter in a bag that refused to open until the last second when it blew up all over everything. If Derek had seen the bag in Boyd's backpack he would have confiscated it.

"I told you so." Isaac said from where he was standing, out of the blast radius. Erica nodded furiously in agreement with her brother.

"What were you trying to do, Boyd?" Derek asked, trying to figure out how he was going to get all this glitter out of here.

"I was doing my homework." He said, sounding defeated. Derek just sighed, picking up his son. The glitter instantly jumped from Boyd to him, and he could feel it sticking to his arms.

"Let's go get you cleaned up, okay?" He carried Boyd out of the room quickly, wanting to make the smallest glitter trail he could. "You two, stay out of the living room." He said to the twins as he passed them. After almost an hour in the bathroom he was pretty sure they were glitter free. He had been wary of washing the stuff down the drain, but he couldn't see another choice.

Five hours. Five hours with a vacuum, broom, duster, and six towels. It was eight at night and there was still glitter in his living room, and now it had found its way back onto him. He could feel it on his scalp, between his toes. He yelled for Boyd to bring him the syllabus he'd been handed the first day of school, the one that had Mr. Stilinski's number on it for emergencies. If that man didn't know how to get glitter out of a house, then he didn't know who would. He'd also kill him, go down to the school and tear his head off if he told Derek he couldn't help.

"Y'ello." Came a way-too-happy sounding voice form the phone.

"Stiles Stilinski, you're ruining my life." Derek growled. There was a pause on the other end, one where he could hear the rustling of papers and the squeak of an old couch.

"Mr. Hale?" he asked, sounding like he really hoped it wasn't.

"What the hell would possess you to give a five year that much fucking glitter?" Derek kicked the couch angrily, disturbing the glitter so it rose up in a plume before settling over his foot.

"Uh, Boyd said he needed it for his homework. I just thought he'd," Stiles was talking fast, but Derek cut him off anyway.

"You're the one who assigns the fucking homework, what is it with you and glitter anyway?"

"I like it." He said simply.

"Well I don't, and I certainly don't like that I've been cleaning for half the day and I still can't get the glitter out of my living room where the bag you gave my son exploded all over everything."

"Oh my god." Stile said, and Derek heard him start to chuckle.

"Don't you dare laugh."

"No, no you're right. Not funny."

"How the hell do I get glitter out of carpet?" Derek asked, scowling at the offending floor.

"Wrap your hand in packing tape, sticky side out. Just press it to the glitter and it'll come out."

"It's covering my entire living room, Stilinski. It'd take me three days to do that." He let himself sink to the floor, dropping to his ass a little harder than he'd intended.

"Then a glitter removal cloth, easy."

"Yeah, cause I keep those handy."

"I have a whole box of them at the,"

"It doesn't help me if you have a fucking life-time supply." Derek said, cutting the man off again.

"at the school. If you'd let me finish, holy crap. You swear a lot."

"Yeah, so do you. Don't think I haven't noticed." Derek said.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. If you come into the school with Boyd tomorrow morning I can give you some cloths. Just vacuum up as much as possible for now I guess." He said, and Derek could hear the amusement in his voice. "Did you really call me at night to ask for glitter advice? That's really,"

Derek hung up before Stiles could tell him what it really was.

xx

Stiles didn't sound so amused when Derek was looming over him with glitter in his eyebrows and murder in his eyes. He gave him the cloths and told him how to use them properly without any smart remarks, flinching slightly when Derek snatched them out of his hands. Derek pretended he didn't see the slight bruise on the man's wrist. His stomach clenched at the sight, his own fingers marked against the teacher's pale skin. He just looked walked away, clutching the cloths a bit harder than he necessary.

The cloths had worked, and at first glance you couldn't see a speck of glitter in the living room. Of course, it kept cropping up from hidden places. Deaton had asked Derek if his eyebrows had been to a rave without him.

Derek saved Mr. Stilinski's number in his phone under "Professor Glitter."

Chapter 5: Bruises and babies

Derek had the make a tough choice. Did he go to Erica and Isaac's class for parent night, or did he go to Boyd's? He could only make it to one, and while he was slightly terrified of Kate Argent, he felt like he'd seen enough of Stiles Stilinski and his perfect ass for a lifetime. This time Derek really did bang his head against the steering wheel. Ever since he'd actually taken notice of the man's butt, it kept popping into his thoughts. He was sitting in front of the primary school, dreading having to go in at all. He decided he'd just get out and let his feet take him where they would.

Which he realized, as he was walking towards Boyd's classroom, was a bad idea. His feet were attached to the rest of his body and the rest of his body wanted to be as far away from Stiles Stilinski and his glitter as he possibly could. There were already parents in the room when he got there. He was used to teachers setting out coffee and donuts during these things, but he actually had to stop and stare, his mouth open slightly, when he saw the table that was up against the far wall. There were finger sandwiches, pastries, multiple bowls of chips, and a punch bowl. An actual punch bowl filled with bright red liquid that Derek was sure tasted like pure sugar.

"Mr. Hale!" Stiles nearly shouted when he saw him. The man looked more nervous than he'd ever seen someone look. He actually twitched slightly when he blinked. Derek wondered if he was high, he looked high.

"Mr. Stilinski." He said, nodding in his direction. He looked around for Boyd's name on the little tags that marked which seat belonged to which kid. When he found it he sank down into the small chair, his knees nearly in his armpits, and just waited. The other parents looked at him, and after seeing a big man like Derek sit in the tiny plastic chairs, they seemed to think it was okay as well. By the time Stiles cleared his throat awkwardly to begin all the parents were sitting in their kids seats.

"Hey guys. I'm Mr. Stilinski, I uh, teach your kids, and stuff." Stiles waved with a little too much enthusiasm, Derek just raised an eyebrow. "This is actually my first year as a teacher," Oh, there it was. That explained so much, so,_ so_ much. "but I'm really glad to have your kids. In my class, I mean. Not, like, I want to have your babies. Oh god. I'm a little nervous, I'm sorry. I don't think I've had a conversation with an adult in months. Not one who acts like it anyway." Stiles said, and the other parents laughed, nodding their heads sympathetically. Stiles smirked in his direction and Derek scowled. Stiles had just insulted him, in a setting where he knew there was nothing Derek could do about it.

He couldn't let the man get away with that. He sat through the rest of his introduction, not really listening. He looked at Boyd's art, noting with a little relief that his wasn't even the stuff with the most glitter on it. Boyd had smiley face stickers on most of his work, which Derek assumed meant he was doing well. Though, knowing Mr. Stilinski, it could just be because the man liked smiley face stickers. He stood in the back of the room under the pretense of eating the Doritos Stiles had placed in one of the bowls, and waited as the rest of the parents left.

"Those are my favourite." Stiles said, stepping up next to him and taking a handful of chips for himself. Derek just looked at him as Stiles shoved half the handful in his mouth, chewing loudly. "So did you want to talk to me?" Stiles asked, his mouth still full of Doritos.

"And you say I'm the one who doesn't act like an adult." Derek said, leaning away in case the man spit Doritos at him.

"You caught that, did you?" Stiles said, barley finishing his mouthful of food before he was stuffing the rest of the chips he was holding into his mouth and wiping his hands off on the front of his shirt.

"If course I did."

"You hung up on me the other night, that was rude." Stiles said, moving around Derek to get to the punch bowl. "Just like it's rude that you call me Stiles Stilinski, even though I told you it isn't my name, but it's cute if you have a nickname for me. I'm sure you do it to try and piss me off, but it's pretty adorable that I annoy you that much." Stiles held a cup of punch out to him, a smirk on his face.

"Then call me king of adorable, because you annoy the fuck out of me." Derek said, snatching the cup of juice a little more forcefully than he should have, the liquid splashing out onto the ground between them.

"Don't be such a sour butt." Stiles said, sipping his punch. Derek just glared some more. "You have some pretty expressive eyebrows there buddy. I bet they could kick my ass all on their own." Stiles made a karate chop motion in the air. Then he did it again and again until finally Derek reached out and grabbed his arm to make him stop. "You're so grabby." Stiles said.

"You flail too much." Derek said, tightening his hold, watching as Stiles winced.

"Dude, come on." Stiles tried to tug his arm away but Derek held firm, digging the tips of his fingers into the skin on Stiles forearm. Derek took a sip of the punch he was still holding, surprised when it actually tasted like real fruit juice.

"Did you make this from scratch?" He asked, loosening his hold on the man.

"I did indeed." Stiles said, pulling his arm in close to his chest.

"I'm surprised it doesn't have glitter in it, Stiles Stilinski." Derek said, and before Stiles could reply he turned around and walked out of the classroom, setting the cup of punch down on Stiles' desk as he passed it.

xx

Scott had loved it when Derek marked him. When he left bruises on his hips where his fingers dug in, bite marks on his neck where he latched on to smother his moans. Derek hadn't done that with Danny, even though he'd topped, Danny had been in control. He hadn't marked anyone besides Scott. It wasn't that he had meant to think about it, he hadn't even been thinking about anything in particular when his dick got hard in the shower, but as soon as he wrapped a hand around himself, the image of the bruise he'd left around Stiles wrist in the car came to his mind. The way Stiles pale skin had looked against his when he'd held onto his arm in the classroom, the redness that had formed when he pulled his hand back, promising there could be a bruise in the shape of Derek's fingers there. It wasn't about the fact that he overpowered Stiles; he just had to stand next to the man to overpower him. It was the fact that, when he bruised him, there was no way Stiles could forget it.

xx

The kids had been in school for three months when Derek got a call at work. Erica had fallen from the climbing wall in the playground, and when the teacher went to see if she was hurt she had been having a seizure. She'd been hurt from the fall and they had tried to treat her but her seizures wouldn't stop. Derek yelled at the woman to call an ambulance, and as soon as she said she would he didn't even listen to the rest of what she had to say, didn't even tell Deaton he was leaving, he just ran out of the clinic. In the car he tried to remember giving Erica her pill that morning, or the morning before. Had he missed a dose? He didn't know if Erica would think to remind him or not. If she missed a dose then it was his fault.

He parked in a no-parking zone, not giving a shit if he got a ticket, and ran into the hospital, bumping into people and pushing them out of his way. He nearly screamed at the nurse to tell him where Erica Hale was, slamming his fist on the counter when she took longer than he liked. He was off running again as soon as she told him a room number. He tore the door open when he found it, stomping into the room. Erica was sitting on an examination table, the nurse shining a light into her eyes.

"Erica." He breathed out. She was up and scrambling to him as soon as he was through the door. He crouched down and wrapped his arms around her. He fell backwards on his ass, and the girl fell into his lap. "Baby girl, oh baby I'm so sorry. Daddy's so sorry." He said against her hair, kissing the side of her face.

"Derek." Came a voice from behind Erica, and Derek finally paid attention to the nurse. He looked up at his mother-in-law, no longer trying to keep his face from betraying the emotions he felt.

"What happened, is she okay?"

"She has a sprained wrist, from the fall, and a few cuts and bruises we think happened during the seizure, but nothing too serious. We're not quite sure why her convulsions didn't stop. We gave her Midazolam to stop it for now. I want her to stay here for a little while, just in case they start again." Melissa was talking like a nurse, like a professional.

"Okay." Was all Derek said, holding Erica even closer to his chest.

"Has she been taking her medication?" Melissa asked, leaning forward to brush his hair back from his sweaty forehead.

"Yes, every day. I may have accidentally missed a dose, but I don't think so." He relaxed under her touch. After he and Scott started dating, Melissa had threatened to de-ball him if he hurt her son. They'd been sixteen, and Melissa's threat had scared him a little. Once she got that out of the way, she'd adored him. After Scott died though, he distanced himself from her. She got to see the kids, but it was usually to babysit, she almost never saw Derek himself anymore.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. The doctor will probably want to up her daily dose, though." She ran her fingernails across his scalp, and then she was gone. Derek shifted a little, holding Erica in his lap until the doctor came in to talk to him.

xx

He couldn't say why his fingers did what they did, but when he went to call the school to tell them he was staying at the hospital with Erica and would be sending someone else to pick up the boys, his thumb hit "Professor Glitter" instead of "School."

"Mr. Hale?" Stiles answered, his voice hushed. Of course, he was in the middle of teaching class. Derek could hear kids in the background.

"Erica is in the hospital. I'm gonna find someone to come get the boys, but I doubt they'll get there in time. I need them to stay in the office while they wait." He said, suddenly feeling like the biggest idiot in the world for calling Stiles and not the front office.

"Whose Isaac's teacher, again?" Stiles asked, and Derek heard him open and close a drawer.

"Ms. Argent."

"I'll bring them to the hospital after school, so they can see their sister." Stiles said, and Derek felt a wave of something he didn't quite recognize in his stomach.

"No."

"Yes. Boyd is my student and while he's on school ground he's my responsibility. I'm not gonna leave and have him sitting here waiting for one of your friends who may or may not show up to get him." Stiles said, and then Derek heard a rustling sound as Stiles slid his hand over the mouth piece of his phone to address the class. Derek rested his head against the wall behind him and let his eyes close.

"You're so fucking annoying." He whispered.

"You're not exactly a basket of puppies yourself." Stiles said after a moment, making an amused noise in his throat. Derek didn't think he'd hear him say that, but he guessed a kindergarten teacher had to be able to focus on multiple things at once.

"Whatever, just don't kill my kids." He said, not waiting for a response before hanging up.

xx

"Dad!" Isaac ran down the hallway, rushing towards Derek with a look on his face that was one part anger and one part worry. "They wouldn't let me go in the ambulance with her, they were mean to me. I hope you beat them up. Where is she, is she okay? Can I see her?" Isaac pulled on Derek's pant leg, hard enough that it slipped down his hip.

"She's fine, they just have to keep an eye on her. You can go see her, she's right in there. Just be quiet, she needs to rest." Derek pointed Isaac towards the open door he was sitting right next to, and the boy rushed in to see his sister.

Stiles was leading Boyd by the hand, moving at a much slower pace than Isaac's sprint. He smiled at Derek gently and Boyd just flopped himself across Derek's knees.

"What happened, if you don't mind my asking? I saw the ambulance arrive but that was it." Stiles sat down next to Derek, his elbow brushing against Derek's. There were five free seats, but of course Stiles would want to bug him by sitting as close as possible.

"She fell off the playground structure, sprained her wrist. The doctor thinks the pain triggered her seizure." He saw Stiles open his mouth, probably preparing more questions. "She's epileptic, they gave her medication, she'll be fine."

"Okay, good. Great." Stiles just sat there. Derek expected him to leave, but he just kept sitting there.

"Thanks for bringing the boys." Derek said, wanting to usher him away.

"It's no problem. As soon as I saw Isaac's face I knew it was best to bring him here. His twin senses were probably tingling like crazy." He said, and then he just kept sitting. Derek could smell his cologne, even though it wasn't very strong. He could smell sweat and glue on the man, but there was a spicy scent underneath it all, something musty.

"It's not Axe." He said under his breath.

"What's not?" Stiles said, leaning forward a little. Derek cursed internally. The man must have super hearing.

"Your cologne, it was Axe before." Derek wished it was possible to kick himself in the face.

"Oh, no. I have more than one. I like to switch it up, keep anybody sniffing me on the regular on their toes." He waggled his eyebrows at Derek, and it was a funny look on him. Derek almost laughed, _almost._

"Right." He said, smirking up at the ceiling.

"It must be because of the dogs." Stiles said. Derek just raised an eyebrow in his direction. "Why you apparently go around sniffing me. Must be because of your little doggie pack."

"How many times do I have to tell you that we don't have any dogs? We have no pets, not even a fish." Derek sees Stiles shrug from the corner of his vision.

"You just totally seem like the kind of guy who has a doggie pack. Besides, you're covered in dog hair."

"I am a veterinarian." Derek says, and Stiles just hums, and keeps on sitting. He doesn't get up to leave, and when Boyd falls asleep in Derek's lap, Stiles reaches out gently to pat the boys head. Derek is actually surprised at the fact that it doesn't bother him. If Ms. Argent patted Isaac or Erica on the head he'd probably punch the bitch. Somehow though, the sight of Stiles' hand resting gently on Boyd's temple was nice.

Chapter 6: Dumb zoo

Erica didn't like that they upped her dosage, because it meant the pills were bigger. She did, however, love that she now had what she claimed was a battle wound. She told Isaac that it made her the tougher twin, since he'd never had gotten hurt like this. She was allowed to take one day off school, so she didn't jostle her wrist around too much. The boys complained that it wasn't fair, but Derek just picked them up under his arms and stuffed them in the car. He went to work, took care of his kids, watched sports, and for a few weeks everything fell into routine. Nothing exciting happened, and part of Derek enjoyed it, while another part kept wishing something would actually happen.

"Dad, can we go to the zoo?"Erica was hanging over the back of the couch, and by extension, the back of Derek's head. Her face was in front of his, and her hair was brushing the top of his thighs. She was gonna need a hair cut soon.

"Sure, I'll look into it." he reached forward and grabbed her face, placing a noisy kiss to her forehead while she shrieked with joy. She wiggled away from him and took off running up the stairs, yelling to her brothers that they were going to get to go to the zoo. Derek laid his head back against the couch and focused partially on the Mets game he was watching on the tellie. He wasn't that interested in it, it was just something to focus on since he didn't have to go into work that day. Derek vaguely remembered seeing a Mets logo on something sitting on Mr. Stilinski's desk. He snorted to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose.

It had been a while since Derek had seen the teacher, but the glittery asshole kept popping up in his thoughts uninvited. Every time Boyd tried to talk about the teacher Derek would cut him off. He'd feel horrible about it as Boyd's shoulders fell, but he couldn't stand hearing about the man. Derek was pretty sure he hated him. That was the only explanation, wasn't it? Derek was pulled from his thoughts as the twins ran screaming into the living room and threw themselves on him.

"Hurry up Dad, you gotta go get dressed!" Isaac yelled, rolling onto his back and peering up at Derek with a look of pure excitement.

"Why?" he asked, wrapping his arm tight around Erica's waist as she tried to climb over her brother to get to his lap.

"The zoo! You said you'd take us. You have to remember, you're not that old yet." Erica said, grabbing his face in her little hands and looking into his eyes.

"I didn't mean right now, Bugs." He said, shifting them so he had one twin perched on each knee.

"Well I did! I meant right this very second, so go get dressed." Erica said firmly, her Anti-Derek pout full force on her face.

"Well, shit." Derek whispered under his breath, looking at the clock on the wall. It was just past noon, which gave them plenty of time to get to the zoo, spend a few hours, and get back. In other words, he really didn't have a good excuse why they couldn't go.

"Come on, dad." Isaac said, imitating his sister's pout. It wasn't as potent on him, but their powers combined were too much for him.

"Fine, alright. Go get your brother." He gave in, standing up and depositing the twins on the floor.

"He said he doesn't want to go, he's being a meany-face again." Erica said, before running off into the kitchen. Isaac smiled shyly up at Derek before taking off after her. Derek sighed, taking the stairs two at a time to get up to Boyd's room. Derek had noticed Boyd's mood spiking up and down since he started school. He seemed to like school a bit more, but it seemed that the more he liked school, the less he liked his family. Boyd's door was shut firmly, something Derek hated.

"Hey, little man." He said loudly, throwing the door open with a flourish. "Zoo time, let's go." he smiled big, but Boyd hadn't even turned to look at him when he entered. He was sitting in the middle of the floor with his back to the door, an art project in front of him.

"Go away." Boyd mumbled angrily.

"Excuse me?" Derek moved to crouch in front of the boy.

"I said go away. I don't want to go to the dumb zoo with you." He picked up a tube of glitter glue from the box next to him and moved to add (even more) glitter to his picture.

"You don't speak to me that way, young man." Derek said, taking the tube out of Boyd's hand.

"Give it back!" Boyd said, reaching out for the tube. Derek just held it above his head.

"Talk to me, Boyd." Derek said gently. "You won't play with your brother and sister, and you barley talk to me."

"You care more about stupid Erica and stupid Isaac than you do about me. You care more about stupid dead Scott than you do about any of us." Boyd snapped. Derek felt like his lungs froze in place, like his whole body went cold. He had to fight back the anger that was bursting against his seams.

"Don't you ever say that again, Boyd. You don't ever insult your papa, do you hear me?" Derek tried to be firm, but his voice cracked. Boyd just glared at Derek.

"He's not my papa, I don't even know him. I don't want two dad's anyway!" Boyd said, finally throwing himself on the floor, smothering his face in the carpet.

"Well you don't have two, you have one, and that's me." Derek said.

"You're not enough." Boyd said, though it was muffled through the carpet.

"Excuse me?" Derek said, folding his legs underneath him and sitting down next to Boyd. After a minute the boy turned his face and looked at Derek's feet.

"I want a mommy." He said, and Derek felt like he'd been socked in the gut.

"I thought you understood, Boyd. Daddy doesn't want to marry a lady."

"I don't care! You don't have to marry anybody, I just want a mommy." Boyd kicked the floor angrily.

"It's not so simple Boyd. You can't get a mommy, I'm sorry. Maybe one day," Derek paused, pinching his nose with his fingers. "Maybe one day you can get another daddy, but for now this is our family. Me you and the twins, we're all that's left of the Hales." Derek had to bite his tongue to keep from letting out a defeated noise at that. There was a time when he was the last Hale.

"You don't even like me anymore." Boyd said, finally looking up at Derek's face.

"What? Boyd, I love you, why would you think that?" Derek reached out and grabbed Boyd around the waist, pulling him up and setting him in his lap.

"You make me go to dumb school all day and when you finally come home you only pay attention to Erica and Isaac. You don't play with me anymore, you don't like my art, you don't like me." Boyd folded his arms over his chest, leaning away from Derek's embrace.

"Boyd, god, no. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel that way, ever. I love you just as much as your brother and sister, you're my little man. Hey," Derek rested his chin on the top of Boyd's head. "come to the zoo today, I'll hold your hand and only your hand all day, and you can have all the treats you want. When we get back you can show me all your art." He kissed the side of Boyd's head gently. "I promise Boyd, I'll never stop liking you, or loving you. No matter what, I will always be your dad, okay? Always."

"I still want a mommy." Boyd said, finally turning around and wrapping his arms around Derek's neck. "But I guess we can go to the dumb zoo." Derek chuckled slightly. Being a father was hard work, Derek was gonna get old quick.

xx

The zoo was crowded, and Derek felt a headache growing the moment they stepped through the gates. He kept true to his word, and though Erica whined, he only held Boyd's hand. He even let him dangle from his upper arm, lifting him up as Boyd giggled. He tried to still find time to work out everyday, even if it was just doing pull-ups on his bedroom door. His body was possibly even better than his had been when he was twenty, more definition in his arms from lifting kids and animals all day every day. Holding up Boyd was almost no effort for him.

It wasn't until they go to the gorilla enclosure that Boyd tugged out of Derek's grasp and took off running with a shout. He didn't go very far, for his destination was only a few feet behind them, standing there, staring at a happily jumping Boyd in shock. Derek cursed under his breath before herding Isaac and Erica over to them.

"Daddy, daddy look whose here!" Boyd said, smiling brightly.

"Stiles Stilinski." Derek said, smirking.

"Are you ever going to stop calling me that?" Mr. Stilinski asked, frowning.

"Do you want to tell me what your first name is?" Derek asked, reaching out to pull Boyd away from his teachers legs, displeased with how happy the boy looked standing close to him.

"That is privileged information, Mr. Hale." he said, smirking. The smirk was small, but it still reached his eyes. Which were, of course, as gorgeous as always. No, bad thought, go away.

"You start calling me Derek, and I'll stop calling you Stiles Stilinski." Derek said, fighting back a smile.

"Deal!" Stiles smirk grew into an actual smile.

"Well alright then, professor Glitter." Derek said, the smile breaking forth on his face at the look Stiles gave him for that.

Stiles opened his mouth to say something when a voice called his name from their right. Derek felt his stomach settle uncomfortably as a gorgeous woman strutted up and stood close to Stiles' side. He tried to be subtle about looking her over, noting that she was wearing designer heels, to the _zoo_ of all places, and her hip was cocked towards Stiles in an alluring way. His gut clenched, and his throat went dry. He felt like he'd swallowed glitter. He felt intimidated by the woman, but he didn't know why.

"Well hello, whose your friend?" The woman said, pointing at Derek vaguely.

"This little guy is one of my students, Boyd. This is his dad Derek Hale, and his brother and sister, um." Stiles looked at Derek pleadingly.

"Isaac and Erica." Derek managed to breathe out after a second, he felt like he was choking. He couldn't look the woman in the eye, or even the face. He stared at the space between her and Stiles, pretending not to notice how little space there was there to stare at.

"Right. I'm Lydia Martin." She extended a hand and Derek took it roughly, rougher than he's ever shaken a woman's hand before. It was then that Boyd decided he'd been ignored for too long and leapt on Mr. Stilinski, grabbing his pant leg and tugging to get his attention.

"What are you here for?" Boyd asked, looking up at his teacher with awe on his face. Derek had to fight the urge to rip his son away from the man and storm out of the zoo like a child. His stomach and heart were both fluttering and he wanted out of the situation as quickly as possible. If he wasn't on thin ice in regards to his relationship with Boyd already he'd force him away, but he was making himself be patient and put up with it.

"My friend just got into town so I'm showing her all the best places! The zoo is one of my favourites. You know how much I love animals." Stiles was smiling at Boyd, and Lydia was looking at Stiles like he was a little puppy she was fascinated with. He wanted to scream, he wanted to run, he wanted to pull out Lydia's probably-weave.

"I think the zoo is dumb." Boyd said, still practically standing on Stiles' shoes. Stiles laughed, and Derek felt like the string holding his sanity together snapped at the sound.

"Come on Boyd, I'm sure Mr. Stilinski is very busy. Let's leave him as his friend alone." Derek reached out and took Boyd's hand.

"Aw, but I want Mr. Stilinski to tell me about the animals!" Boyd whined, still leaning towards the teacher.

"It's no trouble," Mr Stilinski started "since we're all already here we could walk together and-"

"No." Derek cut him off before he could finish. "This is a family day, and I wouldn't want you with us anyway." Derek turned, ushering his children along in front of him faster than was necessary. He heard Lydia ask Stiles something but he chose to tune them out.

Boyd, luckily, didn't seem to mind that he'd pulled him away from his teacher once they got to the snake enclosure. Boyd was fascinated by reptiles, and Derek's bad mood dissipated when he saw his son's smile. Erica was in love with the big cats, begging Derek to let them have one. He got her a leopard plush in the gift shop and she said it was her new favourite thing in the world. Isaac seemed to love everything, giggling and making faces at the monkeys, cawing at the birds, and running from display to display with glee.

Derek loved animals, though he would never, ever coo at one. Certainly not in public. He would talk to the sick animals at the clinic, always spending time at the end of his shift to keep them company. He had a soft spot for all animals, but he wasn't gooey about it. Animals loved him back though, he could calm and angry dog with a soothing talk, take away a scared cats fear with a soft petting. He had often thought about getting a pet for the house, but he wanted to wait until the children were a little older, capable of handling the responsibility better. Just not a lizard, never again would he even_ look_ at a god damn lizard.

Jackson had been the worst part of his day, and he was now bias against the creatures. Stupid Mr. Stilinski and his stupid class pets. Derek hung his head, groaning quietly as the insufferable man found his way back into his thoughts yet again. His heart did it's fluttery thing again and he forced himself to ignore it. Stiles Stilinski was really becoming a pain in his ass, even when he wasn't around.

xx

Derek couldn't sleep. It was almost four in the morning and he had to take the kids to school in only a few hours, but his body was being stubborn. It'd been three days since they'd gone to the zoo, but Derek was still emotionally exhausted from the experience. Boyd was still distant from the rest of the family, he was still trying to balance his life and failing beautifully, and stupid motherfucker Stiles _god damn_ Stilinski still wouldn't get out of his head. His subconscious had decided to memorize every detail of what Stiles had been wearing, and the way he'd been standing, and the way the waist of his pants had shifted when Boyd tugged on his pants. It had also cataloged the blush that spread across his face when Lydia's stupid hip had brushed against his stupid hand. He hadn't noticed himself noticing those things, but when his mind provided him with the image of the man's shirt clinging to his chest due to the slight heat of the day, Derek wanted to punch himself in the face until he forgot the whole day.

Derek only hated Stiles even more for being attractive. He had no right being that fucking annoying while looking the way he did. If he was ugly Derek could just hate him properly and leave it at that. If he had to be good looking he could at least have a tolerable personality, he could be calm and straight forward and not cover Derek's youngest child in glitter on a regular basis. Or he could at least wear the old man tweed suits all the other teachers wore, so that Derek could actually stand to look at him for more than five seconds without having a mental breakdown.

Derek smacked his head against his headboard. Violence against himself had become a regular thing since he'd met Stiles Stilinski. He wanted to knock every memory of the man out of his head and be done with it. No more anger at how annoying the man was, no more distress at how attractive he was. He'd contemplated calling Danny for about five seconds earlier, wanting to rid his body of thoughts of Stilinski and his stupid, perfect ass. He couldn't go out and pick up guys and leave the kids alone, and he had literally nobody else to call. He chucked the thought quickly though, he knew it would be a bad idea, there were too many emotions tied to Danny. He knew if he wasn't so pent up Stilinski wouldn't be a problem, or at least he told himself that.

He just really, really wanted the school year to be over and Boyd to get a new teacher so he could go back to normal.

xx

Derek was going to do it. He was finally going to give up, lay down, and just wait for death to claim him. His son, his beautiful little son, had punched a girl in the face, in the middle of class, less than a week after he'd hugged his teachers shin at the zoo. It was now Derek's duty to sit in the musty classroom and talk to Mr. Stilinski about his son's behaviour. Alone. After school hours. _Alone_.

"He's a smart kid, he just seems to, you know, hate everything." Stiles said, looking at Derek uncomfortably.

"It runs in the family." Derek said, staring at the name tag on Stilinski's desk. G. Stilinski. G? Probably something mundane like Gary, or George. Both hideous named that Derek would certainly never contemplate calling out during sex. Ever.

"I can see that." Stiles muttered under his breath, and Derek let out a small growl.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Derek asked, watching Stiles' hands as they flitted around his desk, doing nothing. His fingers were ridiculously long, and his skin looked annoyingly soft. His hands never stopped moving. Derek wanted to grab them and slam them against the desk.

"Have you ever thought about taking him to see someone? Children have mood swings, they're just easily distracted that way, but his seem to be more severe. He seems to have a range of emotions that are beyond his years, and that might not be a good thing." Stiles said, his hands picking up a stray pen and fiddling with it. He pinched it between his thumb and forefinger and stroked up absentmindedly. Derek wanted to punch him.

"I'm not taking my kid to a shrink." Derek said. "I've seen too often when teachers think they know everything and tell parents their kids have ADHD when they know nothing about the illness and then kids end up addicted to drugs. No. I'm not doing that to him."

"Well first of all, I probably know a hell of a lot more about my own illness than you do Mr. Hale." Stiles sounded angry, and he used finger quotes around the word 'illness.' Derek mentally kicked himself. "Secondly, I don't think he has ADHD, but I do think there could be something going on with him."

"There is, but it's really none of anybodies business what goes on in my family." Derek said, crossing his arms over his chest, growing increasingly uncomfortable. Stiles had finally put the pen down, but how his hands were fiddling with a button on his shirt and Derek felt like flipping the man's desk over on him.

"It is when he nearly breaks another student's nose." Stile said, sighing. He finally stilled his hands, placing them on the desk and leaning forward. "Derek, I'm new at this, but I like to think I'm a good teacher. Your son is one of my favourite students, and I care about his future. If something is wrong, I don't want to see it keep effecting his school the way it's doing now. I want to help him, it's kind of my job, to help him grow up. Let me do my job, let me help."

"You can't help, Stiles, nobody can." Derek slumped in his chair, feeling defeated and broken. His voice was no longer coming out harsh, and he finally let himself look at Stiles' face. The teacher was staring at him with a look of almost begging on his face, and Derek's breath caught in his throat.

"You don't know that, Derek. Boyd is a really good kid, somebody has to try."

"He wants a mother, and I can't give him one." Derek said, biting his tongue the second the words were out. God damn it.

"Oh." Stiles said, blinking in surprise. He cleared his throat awkwardly, leaning back in his chair. "I see. What about his uh, your, you know?" Stiles made a gesture towards Derek.

"No, I don't know." Derek said, raising an eyebrow.

"Didn't he have one? Or, has one, or, something?" Stiles reached up and scratched his head, looking like he regretted getting into this conversation.

"No. We adopted him almost right after he was born." Derek said, and Stiles opened his mouth, but Derek knew what his next question would be anyway. "We being me and my husband." Derek said, and Stiles mouth snapped shut.

"Right." He reached forward and shuffled papers around on his desk uselessly. "What about, uh, him? Your, ahem, husband?" A slight blush touched Stiles' cheeks and Derek's entire body seemed to scream at him to get up and leave, or punch Stiles in the throat, or _something_.

"He died when Boyd was still a baby. He doesn't remember him."

"I'm so sorry." Stiles said, making an aborted movement with his hand, like he wanted to reach out to Derek but he realized Derek was sitting almost six feet away with a desk between them, so it was useless. Derek just shrugged, he hated when people apologized to him for Scott's death. "Have you, uh, dated? I mean, has there been anyone else for Boyd to sort of, look up to in any way?"

"Dated, yeah, but nobody who met the kids. The only other figure in his life is his grandmother, Scott's mum. She's not around much, and Boyd doesn't see her as parental she just bakes him cookies and brings him presents." Derek watched as Stiles hands moved to his face, his elbows leaning against the desk as he leaned forward in his chair.

"Maybe that explains it." Siles said, and Derek just frowned at him. "I mean, why he likes me so much. He always wants my attention, I mean he punched a girl for getting praise from me he felt he deserved for himself."

"No." Derek snapped, scowling at him. "He doesn't see you like that, you're his teacher. Besides, while Boyd understands what my being gay means, he resents it. If I told him I wanted to marry you he'd probably throw a fit. He doesn't want me to marry another man, he doesn't want two dads."

"Well, it's nice to know you think I'm marriage material, Mr. Hale." Stiles said, smiling amusedly at him. "but I wasn't implying that Boyd wants me to be his dad, or vise versa. Flattered as I am, I just meant that he's seeking validation from an adult. You're the only adult he sees as a real authority figure. Usually, children with a single parent handle it fine, but sometimes a child will feel they need more reinforcement than they can get from one person."

"Oh." was all that Derek said. His head was buzzing. He hadn't talked this much in a long time, and he had opened his big dumb mouth and said something stupid, His brain was still stuck on "flattered." Stilinski was flattered. Derek had slipped and said "marry you" and Stilinski was fucking _flattered_. His stomach and heart were both trying to escape his body through his mouth. He didn't even know why he was talking, why he'd told Stilinski any of those things. The stupid man had pulled information out of him and he hadn't even wanted to talk to him at all. Derek stood up abruptly, knocking over his chair in the process.

"Derek?" Stiles asked, concern in his voice as he stood up from his own seat. He could tell Stiles would be an amazing father if he ever had kids. He would be a thousand times better than Derek, more like how Scott had been with the children. He wondered if he'd have kids with the Lydia girl. They would be beautiful if they did, with honey coloured eyes and strawberry hair. Derek nearly choked on air and Stiles started to move out from behind his desk.

"Stay." Derek growled. "I'm leaving, and you're going to pretend I never said any of this. You certainly won't mention of word of it to Boyd, or anyone. Next time Boyd acts out in class I'll talk to the headmaster. You just," Derek paused, looking directly into Stiles stupid, perfect eyes. "teach my son what he needs to know. About animals, maths, life. Teach him whatever you want and give him the validation I've failed to. Help him. Just, just stay away from me." Derek nearly stumbled as he backed towards the door. He could see confusion and a bit of pain cross Mr. Stilinski's face.

"Derek, what? What did I say wrong?" Stiles took a step towards him and Derek practically bolted from the classroom, slamming his shoulder on the door frame and he rushed to get out of the classroom. By the time he got to his car there was sweat dripping down his face.

Chapter 7: Ladies and lions and dick, oh my!

Stiles had never been so confused in his life. His first year as a teacher and the first parent he gets to interact with is quite possibly (most _definitely_) the most attractive man he's ever met in his entire life. He just kept staring and growling and Stiles was terrified of him but that didn't stop him from being curious. Then of course, his kid had to go and be seriously damaged. He didn't know what to do with the kid, they hadn't prepared him for this in any of his classes. The boy switched from happy to burning rage at the drop of a dime. He barley paid attention to Stiles unless he spoke directly to him, and he threatened to murder the class hamster. So of course, Stiles saw it as his personal life mission to make sure the kid didn't end up a serial killer, or a hermit conspiracy theorist who lived alone in a trailer in the woods and believed werewolves controlled the media.

Stiles told himself getting personally invested in one child and only one child was unfair, that he shouldn't give the kid special treatment, but he couldn't just _not_. There was something about the boy, this kid _and_ his tall, dark and handsome dad, that intrigued him. He tried to talk to Mr. Hale about Boyd, tried to come up with a solution. Spend more time with your son, stop growling, stop being scary, sit boy. He was reaching when he got the lizard, hoping it'd make Boyd like him as much as he liked the kid. It worked, kind of. The kid stopped hating his guts, and he got really excited about Jackson a few times, but he was still spacey and grumpy. He at least shared Stiles' love for glitter, though most of the class was with him there.

When Stiles walked out of the school during the assembly to get some fresh air and he happened to see the most fantastic ass in the world sticking in the air beside a drop dead gorgeous car, of course his first instinct was to step closer. He heard a very distinct growly voice and his mind told him to back off and run but since when had he ever listened to himself? He'd tried to be charming, tried to woo the man with his wit but it had backfired when the guy tried to break his frickin' wrist and threatened his lizard friend.

He learned to be cautious around the man, to make minimal jokes and keep it professional. But, alas, he was still Stiles. It wasn't possible for him not to make any jokes _all_ the time. So of course his mouth betrayed him and he publicly insulted that scariest parent in the room at Back to School Night. Nobody would even guess at the meaning to his words, but the look Derek was giving him told him he was probably about to die. When Derek did nothing more then get up in his personal space and breath all over him, Stiles was torn between being scared and being turned on. He decided he could be both at once and stuttered out a deep, quiet, 'oh yes Mr. Hale' that night as he lay in bed with his hands down his pants.

He had, of course, immediately felt guilty about it. He'd swore to himself to never think of the man in a non-professional way ever again. he succeeded until he saw the big tough papa bear sitting in a hospital chair with tear streaks on his face and bags under his eyes. All he'd wanted to do was wrap the man up in his arms and tell him everything would be okay. Of course all he managed to do was sit next to the man for an hour and probably creep the life out of him. After that day Boyd started liking him more, to the point where he would run up to him in the morning excitedly to show him his homework before anyone else. He didn't like school still, but he liked Stiles. It tugged at his heartstrings in a way he almost hated.

So now he was sitting here in a tiny cafe, spilling his guts out to his best friend in a hushed voice, feeling like the biggest weirdo in the world.

"You could always lock his son in the classroom and refuse to give him back until he goes on a date with you." Lydia said, sipping her coffee daintily.

"No, Lydia, I could not. Pretty sure that's illegal, not to mention the worst way to get a guy to date you. A guy, I might add, whose orientation and marital status are a complete mystery to me." Stiles dropped his head onto his arms, sprawling across the tiny table.

"If he was married don't you think he'd have called his spouse to pick up the boys from school instead of you?" Lydia seemed like she was growing bored now that she knew she wasn't going to be hearing about sex.

"How the hell would I know? I don't know anything about him." Stiles sighed.

"Yet here you are, pining like a puppy over him. You could always, oh, I don't know, ask him."

"Right. Sure. Hey Mr. Hale, your son is failing kindergarten and do you happen to like penis, and if so do you already have one you touch regularly or can I apply for the position?"

"How the hell do you even fail kindergarten?"

"Just because you're a genius." he muttered, closing his eyes.

"Just because you're a basket case." She snapped back. He heard her chair scoot back across the concrete floor and groaned in displeasure.

"We can't leave, I'm not dead yet."

"Oh don't be so melodramatic." she said, tugging on his upper arm. "You said you would show me the city and so far I've seen your apartment and this cafe, so take me somewhere intellectually stimulating before I ditch your ass and find the nearest mall." She pulled his arm and he had no choice but to follow her out.

He and Lydia had been best friends since the third grade, her being the only kid who could handle his intense personality and him being the only kid who she deemed smart enough to talk to. In middle school he'd briefly thought he was in love with her, but then Eric Greenberg had taken his shirt off in front of Stiles and flushed that idea right down the drain. Lydia was perfect, the type of girl everyone was in love with a little bit, despite sexual preference. She knew Stiles was gay before Stiles knew Stiles was gay.

She'd been the one he'd gone too when Brian turned out to be a manipulative psycho. She was also the one who grabbed Brian by the balls and told him if he ever laid a hand on Stiles again she'd rip them off. She graduated high school a year early and went to Stanford, while Stiles decided to work with kids and started the dull process of becoming a kindergarten teacher. He'd nearly regretted his decision until he got to work with kids for the first time, and he knew he'd chosen perfectly. The time they spent apart only made it that much sweeter when they got to see each other, so he refused to let it go to waste by sulking about Derek _fucking_Hale.

"Fine, where do you want to go?" he asked, looping his arm through hers as they walked down the pavement.

"Where is your favourite place in the city?" Lydia asked, walking a little faster than Stiles was used to, even in her pumps.

"The zoo!" he shouted, tugging her to the left, heading towards it.

"Really? You and animals, that's something I will never understand."

"Animals are great, you shush. You're gonna love the gorillas, trust me, they are perfect." He could practically feel Lydia roll her eyes, but he didn't care. He loved the zoo, and he loved Lydia, and today was going to be perfect.

_Record scratch._

Lydia left him standing by the gorillas so she could go "powder her nose" and he actually contemplating running and diving into the lion pit when he saw Derek Hale's stupid, pretty face coming towards him in the crowd. The man didn't see him, and Stiles started to let himself relax as he put his back to Stiles and looked at the gorillas. The next thing he knew Boyd was jumping up and down in front of him and Derek was scowling at him like he'd just taken Boyd and thrown _him_ in the lion pit.

Somehow though, during the course of the conversation, Derek softened. He actually smiled at Stiles, _smiled_ huge, with teeth and sparkly eyes and Stiles took a mental picture because it was so beautiful. He opened his mouth to retort with a nickname of his own after Derek called him professor Glitter, but Lydia chose that moment to find him again. He saw Derek look her up and down, his eyes stopping at her hips, and Stiles couldn't help but feel a little jealous. He frowned at Derek, wishing the man didn't have to act like such a butt so they could at least be friends. He introduced Lydia to the Hales, and then just stared longingly at Derek while Boyd tugged on him. It wasn't until Lydia bumped him with her hip that he realized he should stop looking at him like that. He blushed like an idiot and tried to pay attention to the conversation with Boyd, but Derek got furious for some reason and stormed off. He'd probably caught Stiles staring, probably thought he was a creep.

"So that's tall dark and growly, huh?" Lydia asked, watching Derek stomp away with his kids. "Cute butt."

"I know! Damn it." Stiles whined, scrubbing his face with his hands.

"Just as bad as you said, too. He looked like he couldn't decide which one of us to kill first." Lydia looped his arm again and they took off. Stiles was stuck with the alternating image of Derek smiling huge and Derek storming away looping in his mind all day. The man was a mystery, and he just wanted to _know._

xx

Lydia stayed. She got an apartment in the same building as Stiles and they fell back into best friend routine. She got a job at the university and he pretended to have the slightest clue what she was saying when she talked about what she was working on. She listened politely when Stiles talked about the kids, and things were going well for a while. That is, until Stiles' life remembered it was _Stiles' life_ and decided to be a bitch.

When he gave little Allison Argent a gold star for having the most creative art project, the last thing he expected was for Boyd to punch her in the face and steal her star. Then when he tried to comfort her and carry her to the nurses office Boyd had started screaming. It was a disaster, and Stiles wondered how Derek handled the kid if he acted like this at home. No wonder the man always seemed so tired and grumpy.

The headmaster was furious, and Kate Argent took what had happened to her niece out on the other Hale children by being even more of a bitch to them than usual. There was nothing Stiles could do but set up a meeting with Derek Hale. The night before he was supposed to meet with Derek he couldn't sleep. He'd tried everything to get the man to like him and nothing had worked, and now the man very clearly hated pretty much every cell in his body.

So it wasn't a surprise that he somehow fucked up royally with the meeting. Derek had actually stopped being angry for a minute, had actually opened up to him. Stiles found out in a matter of seconds that Derek was very much gay and very much single. Then of course his husband had to be dead, which made Stiles stomach turn with something unfamiliar. He tried to make a joke, tried to lighten the mood, and suddenly Derek was literally bolting through the door, a look of almost anguish on his face as he all but begged Stiles to help, but stay away from him.

When he got back to the complex that night he went straight to Lydia's and before she could even open the door all the way he threw himself into her arms and sobbed. He had no idea what his emotions were doing, all he knew is that Derek Hale rejecting him so completely stung like a bitch.

Chapter 8: Lydia Martin, PhD, queen of sass

Derek had never hated his job until Lydia Martin's dog got sick. He looked up one day and she was standing there, in the middle of his clinic, a Pomeranian in her arms and a look of satisfaction on her face.

"Hale, what a coincidence." She said it in a way that made it seem like it was anything but. "She must have eaten some packing foam or something, she keeps gagging and she has a fever." she placed the dog on the counter in front of Derek.

"Right." Derek said, pulling the needed paperwork out from under the counter. "Fill this out."

"Stiles talks about your son a lot." Lydia said, ignoring the papers he was handing her, just leaning on the counter and staring at him.

"Excuse me?" Derek shook the papers at her.

"Prada will be fine for a few more seconds while we talk, Hale." she swatted the papers and Derek just stared at her. This woman was insane.

"Just fill out the paperwork, I'll get your dog back there, and if you insist on talking to me about shit I don't care about, you can bug me when I'm not on the clock, how about that?"

"When do you get off work?" She asked, producing a phone from seemingly thin air.

"An hour and a half."

"Fine. I will be back then. If you ditch me, well, Stiles does have your address on file in his file cabinet." With that she snatched the papers from his hand and walked over to sit on the bench, leaving her dog laying on the counter.

xx

Derek was nervous. He was sitting across from Lydia in a dark restaurant and so far all she'd said to him was "come" and he'd followed her. He watched her cautiously as she ordered her food, tasted her wine, and made a show of setting her napkin softly on her lap.

"You know, you really have no reason to treat Stiles like shit." She said finally, steepling her fingers in front of her and staring at Derek pointedly.

"I wasn't aware I treated him like anything." He said, looking at her perfectly manicured nails as she tapped them together.

"Well you do, and I don't like it." She spoke as if she was used to everyone doing everything she said, and Derek didn't doubt that people usually did.

"Right well, I haven't even seen him in two weeks, schools almost over, and then we won't have to worry about it."

"Stiles has gone out of his way for your son, for you too. Not seeing him in two weeks is part of the problem, asshole." Lydia pointed at him accusingly and Derek just stared back at her. She fell silent as the waiter approached their table.

"I don't really care." Derek said finally when they were alone again.

"Well I do, so suck it up." Was all she said before turning to her food. Derek ate quickly, needing an excuse to leave. He wondered if Stiles had complained about him to Lydia, saying he was an asshole. He knew Stiles had been kind to Boyd, but it didn't change his opinion of him. Boyd was a turning out to be a difficult kid, Stiles showing him a little kindness didn't mean Derek had to like him. He had been surprised when Lydia said Stiles talked about Boyd a lot, but he realized he probably complained about him too.

"-okay?" Lydia said, and Derek looked up from his food to see her staring at him annoyed.

"What?" he asked, setting his fork down noisily.

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" she tossed her spoon on the table, and Derek was shocked to see she was already done with her food. "Listen up meathead, Stiles is a good man, a great man, and he's been working his ass off to get you to like him. He treats your son like he's a god damn _king_ and there isn't anything within realm of reason he wouldn't do for that kid. He tries to help you help your son and you leave him sitting there with no explanation so he just spends his nights wondering why you hate him and beating himself up for something he never did in the first place. You, Hale, are just an asshole, and Stiles doesn't deserve it. Get your shit together, because if I have to hear Stiles whine about you one more time I'm going to stab him in the eye with my Jimmy Choos." With that she stood up, threw a handful of bills on the table, and left. Derek just sat there staring at her empty chair, wondering what the fuck he had done to deserve the hell that was his life.

xx

Boyd got worse. They were sitting in the living room watching a movie and Erica was on Derek's lap. Boyd got up from his seat and grabbed Erica, shoving her off Derek and throwing her to the ground for no reason other than he wanted on Derek's lap himself. She screamed and Derek was at her side in a second, worried she'd have a seizure if Boyd hurt her. Boyd was yelling at her, and Derek lost his temper. He picked up Erica in his arms, towering over Boyd as he screamed at him. He made Boyd cry, and Erica was shaking against his chest as he carried her upstairs.

Boyd hadn't spoken to Derek for three days after that, and when he finally did it was still angry and distant. Derek was at a loss. He knew he was a terrible father, but he never thought Boyd would actually turn out like this. He sat in Boyd's room while he slept, head in his hands, trying to remember how his parents had been with him and his sister. He knew they had been amazing, but he also knew he could never be anything like them. He needed serious help, and he only knew one place to get it.

xx

It wasn't the most ethical thing to do to get Lydia Martin's address from Prada's forms. It certainly wasn't the _smartest_ thing to do to stand outside her door for ten minutes fighting with himself on whether or not to knock. The decision was made for him when someone else rounded the corner and he knew he looked like a creep just standing there.

"Oh hell no." Lydia said when she opened the door, looking Derek up and down.

"Can I talk to you?" he said quietly, praying that she didn't live with Stiles. She just rolled her eyes and swung the door open further, letting him in. Her apartment was nearly bare, with a small modern style couch and a coffee table. There was a white board taking up the largest wall in the living room, and there was what looked like a complicated math equation taking up nearly the whole thing.

"What do you want, creepy?" Lydia asked, stepping into the kitchen, rising onto her tippy toes to avoid as much of the cold tile as possible with her bare feet.

"I may need Stilinski's help more than I thought I did." He said, watching her pour two drinks from a pitcher. The liquid was a soft pink and Derek wondered if it was anything like the punch Stiles had made at the parent night. Maybe Stiles had actually made this as well.

"No shit." Lydia said as she handed him the glass, dropping back onto her heels once she was on the carpet. Now that she wasn't wearing pumps Derek realized how tiny she was, she barley came up to his chest. Maybe she wasn't so intimidating after all. _Maybe._

"He hates me, doesn't he?" Derek asked, following Lydia to sit on the tiny white couch.

"Oh please, it'd be Christmas morning for him if you were nice to him." She took a sip of her drink and gestured for Derek to do the same. He took a swig and nearly choked when it burned unexpectedly. "Good, isn't it?" Lydia asked, smirking at him as he forced the alcohol down.

"Sure." He said, taking a second, much smaller, sip.

"Where are your kids?" Lydia asked, glancing at the clock on the oven.

"With their grandmother." Derek said after a moment, not really up for making small talk with the woman.

"Just like a man to dump his kids on his mother." She said, pulling her legs up onto the couch, her toes nearly touching Derek's thigh.

"She's not my mother." Derek said, and Lydia's smirk only widened.

"Do you pay her for her babysitting?" she asked, and Derek wondered if she'd already been drinking before he got there.

"Spending time with her grandchildren is payment enough."

"Dead husband's mother." She said, and yeah, Derek was pretty sure she'd been drinking before he got there. He looked closer at her face and noticed that her eyes weren't as piercing as they were the other time's he'd seen her.

"I'm not here to talk about that." He said, and Lydia laughed.

"My house, my rules, sweetheart." She stretched her legs out then, setting her heels in Derek's lap. He shifted backwards, trying to get away from her unwelcomed touch. "Tell me about your family, I just know about Boyd. What about your parents?" She asked, finishing the rest of her drink.

"Dead." He said.

"Any siblings?" she asked, and Derek slowly handed her his drink, which she took without hesitation and sipped from.

"A twin sister, also dead." He said, realizing that he had awful timing. He should have come three hours earlier instead of pacing around the clinic trying to talk himself out of it.

"Is your whole family dead?" She asked, leaning towards him.

"Yes." He snapped. "If you're not going to be helpful, I'm leaving." He pushed her feet off of his lap and stood to go. She sighed loudly and he paused.

"I'm a math prodigy, you know." Lydia said, and Derek heard her set his glass down on the table, it sounded hollow, empty. The woman downed booze like a champ. "That there on the wall, I wrote that. Doesn't mean shit, just proves that if you put two things together no matter what they're made of you'll get something new. You can take two things that are broken and fucked up and fit them together. It just takes a bit of work, and both sides have to balance. Both sides have to put in some effort, and then you can get your answer."

"Right." Derek said, looking at the equation. He couldn't make sense of any of it, but there was an equal sign at the bottom of the board, the answer blank. She'd probably been working on it all day. That explained why she was already buzzed.

"In case it wasn't clear, _that_ was me being helpful. Now unless you want to be fun in some way, you can go." She walked past him into the kitchen, carrying the glasses with her. He stood there for a moment, looking between the white board and the front door. With a sigh he turned around, scowling at her as she tip toed to the fridge.

"You're lucky you're so handsome, because you're terrible company." She said, laughing as she refilled their glasses.

xx

Derek was drunk. Drunker than he'd been in nine years. He didn't know what the hell was in the punch Lydia made, but he was wasted after a glass and a half. So now that he'd had three, he was sprawled on the floor of Lydia's bedroom, snorting out laughter. Her room was much more vibrant than the rest of the house, with colourful bedding and prints on the wall. She had a vanity overflowing with beauty products and bright scarves hanging on a hook by her closet. She said something about her work space needing to be clean and neat, no distractions. Derek just thought it was a pretty room, and it smelled like apricots.

Lydia was leaning against the foot of her bed, her legs lying across Derek's stomach. She'd told him about her whole life. She skirted around the topic of Stiles, only bringing him up when he was playing a role in one of her stories. This was actually a lot, since they'd been inseparable since age seven. He hadn't said too much, just listened to her and interjected a few agreements. Turns out she loved maths with a passion, she was just bored with the job she was doing now. She said she wanted a big loft apartment with a chalk board wall, and she wanted to spend all her time there writing equations, not having to deal with snooty professors and old men who thought the whole field belonged in their pocket. Derek listened to her for no reason. He didn't care, he just liked the punch, and he liked this room.

"Prada is my child, though." she said, making a gesture to where the dog was curled up in the corner. "I don't want real kids, too much effort. Don't know why Stiles loves them so much."

"Me neither." Derek said, reaching blindly for the pitcher of punch that he knew was somewhere by his hip. Lydia had needed to make a whole new one, they'd drank the first.

"You have like ten though." Lydia said, leaning over him to pour the drink for him when his hand kept grasping thin air.

"I have three, and I only got them because Scott wanted them." he said, and a small part of his brain realized he was talking about his kids like they were pets, and he snorted out a laugh. Maybe he did have a pack of dogs after all.

"Scott? That the dead husband?" Lydia asked, her hand reaching for Derek's face. She scratched at his stubble, and Derek was too far gone to even pretend not to lean into it.

"Yep, Scott Hale. We were never really married though, you know? Wasn't legal back then, just got a civil thingy. We were going to get straight people married one day but whatever. We had a ceremony, but I don't know. He's dead. He took my name though, which was cute. Could you imagine, Derek McCall?" he laughed again, and this time Lydia joined him.

"When I was a little girl I thought I was going to marry Stiles but I changed my mind because Lydia Stilinski is just too much." she said, and she slapped Derek playfully on the cheek before retracting her hand.

"Hey, hey. Lydia, what's his first name?" he asked.

"What do you think it is?" she retorted, scooting him over with her hip and laying down next to him, her head on his chest.

"It starts with a 'g' right? Oh my god, no, is it Glitter? It's _Glitter_, isn't it?" he was shouting, but he didn't care. He spilled some punch down his neck when he went to take another sip. Lydia was laughing, burying her face in his shirt.

"I wish, oh I so wish that was his name." Derek was pretty sure she was about to tell him what Stilinski's first name was when there was a noise at the front door. They both turned too look, but Derek was way too drunk to actually sit up, so he couldn't see out the bedroom door over the top of Lydia's head. There was the sound of jingling, the door shaking in its frame, and then it opened.

"I think you're being burgled." Derek said, and they both giggled loudly.

"Lydia?" a voice called from the living room. "Just how much math punch have you had to drink?" the voice asked. Math punch, so Derek guessed she drank this stuff a lot. She must have the liver of a Norse god. "Wait, whose shoes are these?" the voice asked, sounding hesitant. Derek let out a snort. He had kicked his shoes off, one landing on the living room floor while the other flew up onto the kitchen counter.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps, and then there was a body in the door. Derek heard the body gasp and he raised his glass, spilling a little of it onto himself and Lydia. They were still lying on the floor, and Lydia was laughing again, punching Derek lightly in the side.

"Hey, Glitter!" she shouted, and the body in the doorway let out an annoyed sound.

"Oh, shit." Derek said, before dissolving into more laughter.

Chapter 9: I like my coffee black, just like my soul

Derek's head was throbbing. He was lying face down on a couch that was way too uncomfortable and small to be his own. He realized after a moment that he couldn't feel his legs. He groaned in annoyance, opening his eyes a fraction of the way, the light hurting his head. He was in a white room, with a high ceiling and, what the hell, was that a white board on the wall? Oh._ Oh,_ crap.

Derek opened his eyes all the way, leaning up on his elbows to look around the room. The living room. _Lydia Martin's_ living room. The stark white brightness of the room pierced through his head, causing him to groan in pain. Prada was lying on his legs, keeping him pinned to the couch, but Lydia herself was nowhere to be seen. His shoes were sitting by the front door, and the kitchen was cleaned up from where Lydia had made a mess replenishing the punch supply.

Derek could remember everything up to the point that he'd tripped and fallen on his face in Lydia's bedroom, laughing to himself and deciding to just stay where he was as Lydia came over to sit on him. After that things got blurry, and then blanked entirely sometime around Lydia telling him about her high school chemistry teacher.

Derek reached around behind him to poke Prada, trying to convince the dog he wasn't a comfortable place to sleep. He looked at Derek accusingly before jumping down and heading towards Lydia's bedroom. There was an L shaped hallway off the living room that contained the bedroom and bathroom. Derek coudn'tcouldn't remember which was which, but he figured it didn't really matter much at this point if he walked into Lydia's bedroom. His legs felt like jelly underneath him when he stood up, having fallen asleep with Prada laying on them for who knows how long. It was definitely day time, but Derek doubted it was the same day as when he'd gotten there.

The bedroom door was open when he rounded the corner, and he peeked inside to see Lydia lying on her bed, hair covering her face and she grumbled in her sleep. He slipped into the bathroom quietly, not wanting to wake her. He tried to reason with himself that it wasn't a big deal. Tell himself that it was totally A-Okay to get drunk and pass out in the home of Stilinski's best friend. Fucking Stilinski. Derek had only come here because the stupid bastard had been right. Derek wanted to punch him for that. There was something seriously wrong with Boyd, and Derek was in way over his head. So yeah, maybe it was alright that Derek had totally gotten his cuddle on with the dude's best friend. Wasn't it?

Derek mumbled to himself as he washed his hands, annoyed with how things had turned out. Boyd was just supposed to go to kindergarten and learn his fucking ABC's not turn his life upside down, and Boyd's teacher was supposed to stay away from him not Kool-Aid-man-bust his way into Derek's life. Derek looked at himself in the mirror for the first time, and stumbled backward with a shout. His eyebrows. His eyebrows were, were what? They were _plucked_. Jesus, he had perfectly manicured and trimmed eyebrows, a clean shaven face, and from the looks of it he had been subjected to multiple facial masks and moisturizers. He was also pretty sure he was one shade tanner than he'd been when he showed up here. Somebody had given him a makeover while he'd been drunk, and it wasn't hard to guess who. Derek stared at himself for a few minutes, trying to get used to his new face. He turned away slowly, opening the door with his head still slanted towards the mirror.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." a male voice said, and Derek reached out to punch on instinct, but his hangover ensured that he missed and punched the door jamb at full force.

"Fuck!" he shouted, clutching his hand to his chest. When he looked up his entire body froze, except his mouth, which fell open in surprise. Or maybe horror. Stiles Stilinski was standing there with a coffee, looking at him with amusement on his face.

"Good job there, slick." Stiles said, handing Derek the paper cup.

"Where the fuck did you come from?" Derek growled, taking the cup from his hand with way more force than necessary, nearly knocking himself off balance.

"I was getting coffee; I figured you were going to need it after last night." Stiles said, grinning at Derek.

"What? You were, you saw, you, _what_?" Derek couldn't form his thoughts into words,words; his brain was protesting his very existence at the moment. He took a sip of his coffee in favour of talking, gagging when the thing was drowned in milk and sugar.

"Oh yeah. I got here at like six and you guys were hammered. It took me until one to get you both to settle down and go to sleep. You're pretty adorable when you're drunk. Not nearly as scary, especially with lavender scented creams on your face." Stiles said, laughing as he talked. Derek just huffed under his breath and pushed passed him roughly, shoving Stiles into the opposite wall.

"Could you guys shut the fuck up?" Lydia called from the bedroom. "And Hale, get your ass in here!" she added, and Derek turned on his heel, pushing passed Stiles a second time. Stiles tried to follow but Derek slammed the door in his face, hard enough that his head felt ready to split in two and Lydia groaned.

"What?" He snapped, standing over her bed.

"That coffee?" she asked, and Derek handed it over. He wasn't going to drink it anyway, not with all that sweet crap in it. She took a sip and let out a contented sigh, sitting up in bed, patting the spot next to her. Derek sat down heavily, bouncing slightly on the plush mattress.

"So?" he looked around Lydia's room, noticing there were clothes and shoes that hadn't been there the day before scattered all over the place. The room no longer smelled like apricots. It smelled like him, like his aftershave and sweat and the leather of his jacket.

"You can't hold your liquor for shit." she said, flicking his wrist gently. Derek made a displeased noise, but he was surprised to find there was no real feeling behind it, he didn't mind it when she did that. "You were pretty cute though. Except the part where you tried to throw yourself out the window." she said pointedly, frowning. Derek turned to look at the window, noticing that the blinds were nearly snapped in half.

"Shit. I'll pay for that." he said, setting his head in his hands, feeling like an asshole.

"Yeah you will. The pitcher too, and my entire carton of eggs, my dress, and you're paying to clean the carpet you bled all over." she said, and Derek felt his eyes widen with each new thing she tacked on to the list. "Oh, and you owe me a new pair of tweezers."

"What the fuck happened last night?" he asked quietly.

"You don't remember? Wow, you _really_ can't hold your liquor." she stood up swiftly, ruffling his hair and she headed towards her closet. "I have to take a shower. Ask Stiles, he can tell you all about it." she winked at him and he suddenly felt very, _very_ dirty.

God _damn it._

xx

Stiles wouldn't stop smirking, and Derek wanted to smack it off his face. They were walking to the coffee shop Stiles had just come from. He hadn't gotten any black coffee and Derek wasn't in the mood to dig through Lydia's kitchen trying to find it and make it for himself.

"Lydia drinks math punch all the time and she never forgets the night. You don't drink often do you? You look like you do; you look like a beer-with-dinner kind of guy." Stiles said, straining slightly to keep up with Derek's pace.

"I'm a dad." was all Derek said, looking around for the stupid cafe Stiles had promised was just up ahead.

"Right, yeah, so is mine." Stiles said, but it came out as a whisper so Derek figured he hadn't meant for him to respond, so he didn't.

The coffee shop was actually four blocks away, and Derek had a strong urge to throw Stiles out into the morning traffic by the time they got there. Stiles kept his mouth shut until they were sitting, Derek with a cup of plain black coffee and Stiles with something Derek had never even heard of but was drowned in whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

"So are you going to tell me, or not?" Derek asked, leaning back in his chair and sipping his coffee. His headache had faded to a dull pounding, and the rest of his body was finally okay with him being alive.

"Oh right, sure." Stiles said, pulling his straw out of his cup to lick the whipped cream off it. Derek pretended like he didn't watch as the man's tongue worked against the plastic. "So when I got there you guys were cuddling on the bedroom floor. I seriously thought I'd walked in on Lydia doing the nasty for a second, nearly thought I was going to need lifelong therapy. Anyway, when you saw me you got, you know, how you are. You tried to jump out the window but you couldn't figure out how to get it all the way open, so you kind of ended up with your one leg stuck out of it and the rest of your body on the floor while you shouted about hating glitter." Stiles paused to sip his drink, and Derek could tell he was frowning, like Derek's actions had hurt his feelings. He knew that he was probably shouting about hating Stiles himself, but the man wouldn't come out and say that.

"Right. You made me want to kill myself, nothing new, what next?" Derek asked, earning him an angry glare from Stiles.

"Then you threw eggs at me. All of them. Twelve eggs and you hit me with almost every single one. I was impressed actually, you could barely stand but you could peg me in the face with an egg. Which gave Lydia the idea for makeovers, which she did." Stiles gestured at Derek's face, the smirk returning to his stupidly perfect shaped mouth. "Then I went back to my apartment to get cleaned up and changed. I got back at ten and Lydia was modelling clothes for you. You'd drank a whole other pitcher by then, but I guess you broke it after that. Oh, and you were imitating Tim Gunn. Very well, actually, so congrats on that." Stiles paused again, looking around the coffee shop, almost like he was nervous.

"Modelling?" Derek asked, trying to urge him on.

"Right, yeah. She was changing outfits, asking for your opinion. Lydia will actually probably be really offended that you saw her naked and don't remember. I saw her naked once." Stiles paused again; though Derek could tell this time he was just trying to be dramatic. "I fainted." he said, smiling at Derek like he'd told a fantastic joke. Derek didn't doubt that he was telling the truth, though.

"Okay." he said, finishing up the last of his coffee and crushing the cup in his fist.

"Right, then I don't really know what happened; I was in the kitchen cleaning the mess when I heard you freaking out. I ran in and you were in Lydia's closet with a pair of scissors, screaming. You cut up one of her dresses to shreds, and when she tried to wrestle the scissors away from you you stabbed yourself in the side. It wasn't too bad, obviously. I'm the one who patched you up." Stiles ducked his face behind his cup but Derek could see that he was blushing.

"What?" he bit out, fumbling to pull his shirt up and see what the hell Stiles was talking about. There was a thick white bandage on his hip, a small stain of blood in the middle. "Well, fuck." he whispered, running his fingers over the spot. It didn't even hurt, so he hadn't noticed it.

"Yeah, then things pretty much calmed down. Lydia fell asleep while I was cleaning you up. You kept, uh." Stiles stopped himself, looking down at the table.

"I kept what?" Derek asked.

"You kept saying stuff. Mostly apologizing to me for, well I don't know what for, you just kept saying you were 'so sorry' and shit. You said other things too but, you were drunk. Yeah." Stiles sipped his drink loudly, turning away from Derek completely.

"So that's it then?" Derek asked, leaning forward slightly to put himself back in Stiles' line of sight.

"Yep." he said, but his voice went an octave higher, and Derek could tell he was lying.

"What else happened?" he growled.

"Nothing. Nope, nothing at all." Stiles said, and Derek just huffed angrily.

"Tell me." Derek snapped, and Stiles shook his head. Derek reached across the tiny table and grabbed Stiles by the front of his shirt, jerking him forward. Stiles' chest slammed against the table, sending the rest of his drink and Derek's empty cup clattering to the ground. The rest of the shop stopped and looked as Derek dragged Stiles body up onto the table, pulling him across and into Derek's space.

"Okay, okay, fuck." Stiles breathed out, hands slapping against Derek's fist where it was wrapped in the soft fabric of the man's shirt. "Just, put me down, jesus." Stiles said, eyes flicking from Derek's eyes to where his arm was flexed from holding up Stiles weight. Derek exhaled loudly before letting go of Stiles, letting him drop back into his chair.

"Talk." he said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

"Well uh, when I walked you to the couch, so you could sleep you uh. You were pretty out of it, I guess." Stiles chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "You uh, you. Sort of, maybe." Stiles kept pausing, and Derek raised an eyebrow.

"I what?" Derek said, softer this time. Stiles looked up and their eyes locked, and Derek thought it might have been the first time they'd actually looked directly into each other's eyes.

"You tried to kiss me."

Oh. _Oh fuck._

Chapter 10: Get the hell out of my tree

NOTE;_ Derek texting._ _**Lydia texting**_

Derek had practically sprinted the four and a half blocks from the coffee shop to his car after Stiles had told him that lie. It had to be a lie, there was no way, wasted or not, that he would try and kiss Stiles "Glitter" Stilinski. He was wrong, it was a mistake. Derek had probably tried to head-butt him, or rip his throat out with his teeth, or _something_ and Stiles had misinterpreted. By the time he whipped his car, tires squealing, gravel churning, into the driveway of Melissa's house, he was fuming. How dare he, how dare he do _any of it._ Melissa was equally fuming, because he hadn't come to get his kids and his phone had been in the car, so he hadn't answered. Erica and Isaac bounded into his arms while Boyd walked passed him and got into the car without a word.

Derek decided he didn't need Stilinski's help after all, and began calling child psychologists. He could afford to get Boyd some professional help, and he was getting desperate. Boyd only seemed happy when he was talking about Stilinski or reptiles, and if Derek wasn't giving Boyd his undivided attention when he wanted to talk he threw a fit. Derek tried his best to divide his attention equally among his kids. Erica and Isaac usually wanted to talk to him together, but Boyd was at the point where he hated his brother and sister.

Barley a week after Derek bolted from Stiles in the coffee shop, he hadn't seen or spoken to him or Lydia since. When he turned his phone on that morning he'd been shocked to find a text message from Lydia, but he hadn't replied, and he didn't save her number either. He was doing a top notch job of avoiding them both.

So of course it would be his luck that Boyd caused another spectacle at school and he had to go down there. This time it involved all his children, but only Boyd was in trouble. According to the secretary Erica and Isaac were "relaxing" in their classroom to calm their nerves. It was still recess when he got to the school, and he didn't bother pulling into a parking space, just stopping the car in the loading zone and storming into the headmaster's office.

"Where's Boyd?" Derek asked as Mr. Campbell grunted out angrily for him to sit down.

"He's in his classroom with Mr. Stilinski, his teacher. He wouldn't behave for anybody else." he said, looking like he was already exhausted.

"What exactly happened?" Derek asked, hoping he wouldn't have to go get Boyd himself from the clutches of the evil Dr. Glitter.

"Well, the playground for the kindergartners is separate from the playground for the rest of kids, so Boyd has never had any real in-school interaction with his brother and sister outside of assemblies. Even there though, the kids sit with their classes so, they didn't see each other much." The man talked with his hands, but not in the same way that Stiles did. Stiles flapped his hands and flung them around and used them to demonstrate exactly what he was saying. The headmaster just jerked his fingers around awkwardly, like he was trying to do sign language but he had to force himself not to. Derek couldn't stop staring at his hands.

"Okay, and? What happened to my kids?" Derek asked, impatient. Before Mr. Campbell could say anything, though, there was a commotion at the door and Kate Argent appeared.

"I couldn't stop them." She said, and then Erica and Isaac ducked around her legs and ran at Derek.

"Dad, dad it was awful!" Erica buried her face in Derek's chest, and he wrapped her up tight against his chest, petting her hair.

"We saw your car out the window." Isaac whispered, trying to squeeze into the small chair with his dad and sister. He ended up kneeling awkwardly on one of Derek's thighs because Erica refused to budge.

"What the hell happened?" Derek asked, addressing both Mr. Campbell and Ms. Argent.

"Today we had a game day, and it's one of the only days that the kindergartners and older kids get to play outside together. Isaac tried to get Boyd to play with them and, well." the man made a jerky gesture with his hand that Derek couldn't decipher.

"Your kid basically reacted like a rabid dog, honey." Ms. Argent said from behind them. "Jumped at Isaac and tackled him to the ground like some kind of lunatic."

"Right." Mr. Campbell continued, giving her a disapproving look. "When Erica shouted to him,"

"I told him you would be mad." she whispered against his chest. "We're supposed to be nice to each other always."

"Yes. The other kids, well you know how kids are. They didn't know that the children were from the same family before, and when they found out, they made comments." Mr. Campbell seemed incredibly uncomfortable, and Ms. Argent made a noise behind them.

"They're picking on Boyd because he's a black kid in a white family. Kids are assholes." she said, and the headmaster glared at her.

"Language, Kate, please."

"How did Boyd react?" Derek asked, turning to Ms. Argent because she seemed like she'd answer the most straight forward.

"He basically tried to punch as many people as he could at once. He ran through the playground screaming, attacking anyone who got near him. It wasn't until Stilinski got to him that he calmed down. He carried him off to cool off and the rest is history. I'd invest in a muzzle for your pup there, he's got a real bite to him." she said, winking at Derek. Then she was gone, shutting the door behind her.

"Well, fuck." Derek said, and Mr. Campbell made a very quiet growling sound, not unlike the sound Derek made himself. "Well okay, go get Boyd." Derek said, leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I'm terribly busy here. If you need directions to his classroom you can get them from Jennifer." he said, making another aborted motion with his hands.

"What are you busy with?" Derek snapped, but the man didn't seem to be too intimidated by him.

"My grandsons go to this school, and they caused a similar commotion on the playground today." He said, sighing.

"They attacked each other?" Derek said, trying to think of an excuse why he couldn't walk into the den of Glitter without adult supervision.

"No, but Dean did beat up the kid who took a ball from his little brother." he smirked, and Derek had a suspicion that he was a little proud of the boy. "Now please, if you don't mind." he said and he gestured to the doorway, the first real gesture Derek had seen him make. He just sighed, hefting his kids higher in his arms and standing to leave.

"You sure have a tough job." Derek said as he turned to leave.

"So do you." the man said, and Derek snorted out a laugh.

xx

"Just go in and tell Stilinski I'm here and to send Boyd out." Derek whispered, crouching down in front of Erica. He was pathetic, but he was desperate.

"Why don't you just do it yourself?" she asked, looking at him like he'd sprouted fur on his face.

"I'm too tired. Just go get your brother." he said, turning her around by her shoulders and pointing her towards the door.

"Nauh-uh, not after what he did today." she said, crossing her arms over her chest. Derek groaned, and Isaac sighed.

"You guys are both dumbies." he said, going to the door himself. Derek was pleased with his son, giving him a thumbs up as he walked by. Isaac opened the door and stood there for a few moments looking, waiting for Stilinski's attention no doubt.

"Mr. Stilinski, my dad is hiding in the hallway because he's a big baby so you should come out here." Isaac shouted, loud enough that the kids outside playing could probably hear him. Isaac was officially a traitor; Derek was marching down to the adoption agency and giving him back. What kind of kid sold out their own father like that? Derek sighed and hung his head, still crouching on the ground behind Erica when Stiles came out into the hallway, shutting the door behind himself.

"Um, hi there, Mr. Hale. Hey." He said, and Derek could tell he felt just as awkward as he did.

"Stilinski. Give me my son." Derek said, standing up, leaving his hands on Erica's shoulders, feeling like he needed protection. He didn't know why, or what good Erica would be, but he felt better about the whole situation like this. Stiles looked down the hallway, looked at Derek, looked at the other kids, looked back through the window in the classroom door, looked at his feet, shuffled his feet, took a deep breath, and then looked back up at Derek. The whole thing took about five seconds but Derek felt like he'd been standing there for five billion years and the sun was exploding and his skin was melting off and Stilinski needed to not look into his eyes,_ fuck_. He averted his, looking at Stiles' chest, which was maybe a little bit worse since his shirt was stupidly tight and Derek couldn't hate him any more than he did this very second.

"No." Stiles said. And scratch that, _now_ he hated him more.

"Excuse me?" Derek growled. "Give me my fucking son, Glitter." he stepped out from behind Erica and advanced on the man, sticking out his chest in an unconscious effort to appear even bigger and scarier than he was.

"No, I." Stiles took a step back, stumbled, Derek kept moving forward. "Lydia said I should!" Stiles' back hit the classroom door, and Derek kept moving, slamming his fist against the door next to Stiles' head, pressing his chest against him, scowling down at him. Stiles' looked seconds away from pissing himself, and Derek felt like his skin was on fire from the anger pulsing through him. "I'm not afraid of you." Stiles squeaked out and Derek's other hand came up quickly, curling around Stiles' throat. He'd just started to apply pressure when Isaac tugged on his pant leg.

"Dad! Stop it, what are you doing? Don't hurt Mr. Stilinski!" he said, and Erica shouted in agreement from behind them. Derek seemed to snap back into himself, his blood lust dissipating at the sound of his children's voices. He let go of Stiles and took a step back.

"Okay so, maybe a little afraid." Stiles' said, rubbing his throat as if to make sure it was still attached to the rest of him.

"Move out of my way before I hurt you anyway." Derek said lowly, reaching out blindly and pulling his kids to his side protectively.

"Dad." Erica whined, but Derek shushed her with a hiss.

"Have coffee with me and you can have him back!" Stiles nearly screamed, his voice high pitched, the words coming out so fast Derek barley caught them.

"What was that?" Derek asked.

"Have uh, coffee? You know, with me. Me and you, drinking coffee."

"We did that, it was the worst twenty minutes of my life. Give me my kid."

"Right uh." Stiles' scratched the back of his head. "You're not getting it are you?"

"Shut up and give me my kid Stiles Stilinski!"

"I told you not to call me that!"

"Give me my god damn son!"

"Have coffee with me!"

"Screw yourself, give me Boyd!"

"Would you get over yourself a drink one fucking cup of coffee with me?!" Stiles flinched at his own swearing. Erica and Isaac gasped and giggled but Derek's voice overrode them.

"Why would I want to have coffee with someone like you?" Derek snarled.

"I don't know, why did you try to kiss me?" Stiles snapped back. This time Erica shrieked and Isaac made a choking sound.

"I didn't!" Derek shouted.

"Yes you did! The only reason you didn't succeed is because you were so wasted you kissed my eyeball instead! Never mind that when I was cleaning your wound you were practically begging me to let-"

Stiles stopped himself, looking like he was choking on his own words. He looked around Derek's shoulder at Isaac and Erica and it was only then that Derek realized he'd stepped back up during their shouting match and was now pressing his whole body against Stiles, one hand twisted lightly in the collar of his shirt. He glanced down and realized he could see down his shirt, could see his collar bones and chest hair and muscles that had no right being on a man that scrawny.

"To what?" Derek growled.

"I can't say." Stiles said, and a blush spread across his cheeks.

"Daddy and Mr. Stilinski sitting in a tree!" Erica sang, and she giggled.

"If we were in a tree I'd push him out." Derek said, stepping away, straightening his clothes out even though they weren't wrinkled

"You're very rude." Stiles said. "Look this was probably really bad timing but, you've met Lydia; you know she's a nut case. She only gave me one piece of advice and I got desperate so I'm following it, okay?"

"What are you talking about?" Derek asked, crossing his arms to keep himself from initiating anymore touching.

"She told me to lock Boyd in the classroom and refuse to let you have him until you agree to go out with me. So go out with me, you big, dumb, poopyhead." Stiles said it quickly, and afterwards he looked like he was shocked at his own words. Derek just stared, and the longer he stared the more awkward Stiles' got.

"No." came a small voice, and wait a second, that certainly wasn't Derek. Derek turned to look at his kids. Erica was looking at Isaac like she wanted to smack him, and Isaac was scowling at Stilinski.

"Isaac," Stiles started, but Isaac cut him off with a scream.

"No! You can't date dad, nobody can, nobody but papa!" Isaac ran forward and pushed Stiles. He was still against the door so he didn't go anywhere, but he grunted when Isaac's hands pushed against his stomach.

"Just give me my kid." Derek said, not bothering to make Isaac stop. Stiles didn't say anything, but Derek could see the moment he gave up, letting himself back into the classroom. Boyd came out a few moments later, and Derek was honestly too exhausted to even deal with it anymore. He just picked the boy up in his arms and carried him out to the car.

xx

Derek's hands hovered over the screen of his phone for way longer than he'd ever admit. It was almost midnight and he was sitting up in bed, unable to sleep. He huffed to himself and typed out the message quickly, hitting send before he could let himself think about it too much.

_Why the hell would you tell professor Glitter to hold my kid hostage?_

He set his phone down on the bed next to him, leaning back and waiting for a response. It might be too late, but Derek had a feeling Lydia wasn't the type to sleep until it was morning. He knew he was right when his phone beeped next to him.

_**He didn't seriously do that did he? Since he didn't come running down here to celebrate I'm guessing you didn't say yes when he asked you out.**_

Derek scowled at his phone before typing a reply.

_My kid said no before I even got the chance to punch him in the throat for even suggesting it._

He'd barley set his phone down before it was beeping again.

_**Oh please, don't even pretend you don't want all up on that.**_

Derek nearly choked on his own breath.

_What THE HELL would give you that idea?._

This time he didn't even bother setting his phone down, just holding it in his hands and staring at the screen until she replied.

_**I was awake when you were begging him to let you fuck him. It was kind of hot, if I'm being honest.**_

Derek felt like his throat was closing as he reread the text about ten times.

_I don't believe you._

This time it took almost a full minute for her to reply, and Derek felt like he was going to have a heart attack. He still really didn't want to have one of those.

_**"Oh please, please I need you, let me fuck you god your mouth is so beautiful, come on Stiles Stilinski, let me take you, I want you so bad." ;) Ha.**_

Fuck. Derek was going to go back in time and punch past-himself in the face. He threw his phone onto his dresser, not even caring if it broke. He rolled onto his stomach, burying his face into his pillow, and screamed.

xx

Derek was sitting behind the counter at the clinic, head on the desk, wishing death would come claim him. He glanced up at the sound of the bell above the door, recognizing the woman as the lady who brought in her tabby to get fixed earlier that day.

"I'll go get Sera for you, have a seat." he said dryly. He wanted the day to be over, he wanted to go home and sleep and pretend Stiles Stilinski didn't exist. He'd been getting good at it. It was almost time for winter break, and then he and his kids could be far, far away from the guy for a few months. He pointedly did not think about Lydia's text. Did not think about how far-fetched it _wasn't_ for him to want to fuck Stiles. He would deny it out loud, but he couldn't deny his own brain that he'd thought about Stiles ass, mouth, chest, skin, _body_ on more than one occasion while jacking off at night. There was just no way, no way in hell he'd ever date him. Nope._No._ Nein.

Derek located the cat, setting her in her crate gently, speaking to her softly to keep her calm. He handed her over to her owner silently, probably frightening the lady a little bit but he couldn't bring himself to care. Money was exchanged, the woman left, and Derek let his head fall back onto the counter with a thud. He pulled out his phone, which had a small crack in the upper corner from where he'd thrown it. He flicked through his contact list lazily.

He'd saved Lydia's number under "The Enabler."

Chapter 11: You deserve a crown, maybe

"Dad." Derek heard whispered in his ear. He groaned and rolled over onto his stomach. "Dad!" the whisper came more insistently, and there was a tiny hand shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes to near complete darkness and sighed.

"What is it, Bug?" he asked, rolling onto his back and pulling Erica to him, letting her snuggle under his blankets and rest on his chest.

"Did you really try to kiss Mr. Stilinski?" she asked, her voice quiet and a little sad. The clock told Derek it was three in the morning and Erica sounded sleepy.

"I guess I did." he said. He figured here in his own room with his daughter, he could admit that he was, actually, pretty sure Stiles had no reason to lie.

"Do you like him?" Erica asked, and she sounded so scared, it broke Derek's heart.

"No." he said, and her fist clenched against his shirt as she buried her face further against his chest.

"Good, Isaac doesn't want you to." she said, and Derek's heart decided to blow apart into a thousand pieces.

"Why would it be bad if I did?" he asked, resting his hand over hers and squeezing.

"I like our family the way it is. Mostly." she whispered.

"Mostly?"

"I miss papa." she said after a moment, and there went Derek's heart, flying off the planet, it's gone forever.

"I do too." he whispered against her hair. "So much."

"Isaac does most." she said, and Derek kissed her forehead. "Boyd doesn't." she said, and she almost sounded angry.

"Boyd doesn't remember, Bug, he was just a baby."

"He could still be sad. He's mean; he made fun of Isaac for being sad."

"When was this?" Derek asked, tilting his head back to look at her face. He could barely see her in the glowing light of the clock.

"At the school, that's why they fought." she looked up at him and Derek was struck with an image of the woman she'd become. She'd be strong and kind, filled with emotion and creativity. She wasn't going to be anything like Derek, even though she seemed like a miniature version of him sometimes. She was going to be amazing.

"Why didn't Isaac tell me?"

"He knows you get sad when he talks about papa. He doesn't want you to be sad." She sat up suddenly, looking at him seriously. "I don't either." she said, poking him in the chest.

"I'm not." he lied. He was, he was so fucking sad all the fucking time. His kids were the only thing anchoring him to any happiness, otherwise he'd be swallowed up by his sadness and his anger and he'd lose himself.

"Isaac shouldn't tell you that you can't go on a date. That's not nice." she said, frowning.

"It's okay, I don't want to date Stiles anyway." he said, and his eyes were slipping closed again. Erica had decided to come in and crush his emotions at three in the morning and he was so forcing her to get that haircut she was protesting in retaliation.

"You could date Chris." she said. "I don't know how to tell if he likes boys but Ms. Argent said he wasn't married anymore." she laid back down on him, resting her head on his arm. He turned on his side, curling himself around her, his hand brushing through her hair.

"Who is Chris?" Derek asked, feeling himself about to fall asleep.

"Ms. Argent's big brother. He has a beard and he smiles a lot like Ms. Argent. I'm going to ask her if he likes boys." she said.

"Mm, okay." He said, and he felt her lean up and kiss the tip of his nose before snuggling against his chest, wrapping her fingers around his shirt.

"I love you, dad." she said, and he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

xx

Turns out Chris Argent didn't like boys, but Ms. Argent did know someone who did. She strutted out to his car when he was picking up the kids the next week, handing him a piece of paper with a name and number on it.

"Now I know why you wouldn't go out with me." she said, leaning into his window with a smirk. He just grunted in reply. "This guy's a photo journalist for some big hot shot newspaper, I don't remember which one. He did a piece on my brother's company and we kind of hit it off. He's young, twenty-something, not hard on the eyes. Give him a call, see if anything comes up." she said, gnashing her teeth at him in a way that was meant to be sexy but only managed to scare Derek a little.

He opened the piece of paper and scowled down at the name and number. Matt Daehler, a Los Angeles area code. He stuffed the number into his coat pocket.

xx

Lydia was a monster. Derek was convinced of it when his phone rang at seven in the morning on a Saturday, and it was her. It was the weekend before the kids last week before winter break, and he was exhausted. Planning on what to do with the kids all day every day while he and Melissa both worked was a bitch. He wanted to sleep, but he answered the phone anyway. He had a feeling she'd just keep calling until he answered.

"What?" he snapped, though there was no real feeling behind it seeing as he was so tired he was barely alive.

"You're taking me shopping today to replace all the stuff you broke. No excuses." she said, and she sounded wide awake. Derek was going to cut her weave out when she wasn't looking.

"How about my kids, that a good excuse?" he asked.

"Well what did you do with them when you were busy getting wasted and destroying my house?" she asked, and Derek just groaned.

"Fine, you witch. I'll call their sitter, but not until later. Much later. I'm going to sleep, I'll meet you at the mall at noon." he ended the call before she could reply and tossed his phone on the floor. He was going to need a new one soon with the way he kept throwing his around.

xx

Lydia wanted to buy the new pitcher first, the dress last, and the eggs on the way back to the house. Not only did Derek pay for everything, but he carried all the bags, which shouldn't have come as a shock if he really thought about it.

"Macy's." Lydia declared, and took off towards the shop.

"Fine. I need a new shirt for my date anyway." he muttered, hoisting the bags higher up his arms.

"Wait! Wait, a date?" she looped her arm through his, leaning in. "Tell me everything, who is he?" she asked, her smile almost predatory.

"None of your business." he said.

"Oh please, you know you want to tell me."

"Not really, I haven't talked to anybody about it and I'm not going to." he looked at her from the side of his eyes, and she looked hungry for information. He sighed. "I don't even know if I like him yet. It's kind of a blind date. I got his number from someone, text him; we're going to have dinner."

"Sounds sweet." she said. "So what's his name?"

"Why do you even care? You're supposed to be Stilinski's best friend aren't you? Shouldn't he be who you take shopping and bug about dates."

"Well for one thing, the guy he asked out on a date said no because he's a huge idiot." she gave him a pointed look and he huffed at her. "Second, a girl is allowed to have two best friends. You can be my best friend too."

"I don't even like you." he said.

"Everybody likes me, it's a gift. You're going to love me, you can't even deny it." she said, and then she made a happy sound as they entered Macy's.

"Sure." he said, not sure if he could deny it. Lydia was a force to be reckoned with, and he'd always appreciated people who could actually put up with his anger and not get intimidated.

"Let me show you the dress you destroyed. I want something similar." she pulled her phone out and started scrolling through pictures. "Not that I expect we will find something, I'd never seen one like it. I think it was one of a kind. I found it in a thrift shop a few years ago, I was amazed. Ah yes, here." she handed him the phone with a picture up on the screen.

Derek nearly dropped it. He did drop the bag with the blinds in it, barely hearing it when they clattered to the ground. He tightened his jaw, not letting his face betray his emotions. He'd seen that dress dozens of times, but he hadn't seen it since he was seventeen years old. That explained why he'd taken scissors to it. He couldn't handle his emotions when he was drunk, especially not when they were a shock. Hell, he had problems dealing with sudden waves of sadness when he was sober. Like right now, looking at a picture of Lydia wearing that dress, noticing how it fit her perfectly, like it had been made for her. He wanted to scream.

"Hale?" Lydia asked, stepping closer.

"This is Laura's dress. My sister." He handed Lydia the phone back, not wanting to look at it anymore. "My mum made it for her, that's why it's one of a kind. I gave it away after she died." He reached down to pick up the bag he'd dropped, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Well I guess that explains why you went all Freddy Krueger on it, but I'm still pissed, and you still owe me a new one." Lydia said, motioning for him to follow her as she glided down the aisle. That was one thing he did like about Lydia, she never apologized when he talked about his dead loved ones. Everybody else always said they were sorry, and it always pissed him off. Lydia just kept going with the conversation, pretending like nothing had even happened. She knew how to not ask questions.

The dress Lydia picked looked nothing like Laura's. It was the same colour, a deep forest green, but the design was modern and sleek, with one sleeve and a lace V up the back. Lydia looked amazing in it, but someone like Lydia looked amazing in anything. It happened to be the most expensive dress she tried on, but Derek bought it without saying anything. After he loaded her car with her bags of shopping and handed her the money for her eggs, he turned to walk away with his new shirt draped over his shoulder.

"You know," she said, making him look back at her as he walked. "We're totally best friends, whether you like it or not." Derek smiled at her softly before waving and turning back around to walk to his car.

xx

Matt was sweet. He seemed slightly nervous at first when he saw Derek, but he certainly looked pleased. They talked comfortably through dinner, and Derek walked Matt to his car afterwards.

"This was nice." Matt said, standing in the open door of his car.

"Yes, it really was." Derek smiled at him, leaning slightly closer.

"I will definitely call you." Matt said, smirking as he took a step towards Derek.

"Good." was all Derek said before closing the distance between them and kissing him gently. Matt's lips were rough, and he rushed it, but it wasn't bad. Matt was smiling happily when they pulled away. He reached out and pinched the lapel of Derek's jacket between his fingers, looking at his mouth.

"Nice." he whispered, before slipping into his car, giving Derek a wiggle of his fingers before he drove off.

Derek fell asleep that night with a smile on his face.

xx

"So now will you tell me about him?" Lydia asked, and Derek could hear her stirring a drink. The woman drank constantly, it was a little worrisome.

"Why do you care so much?" he asked. It was ten at night and Derek was sitting in the living room. When Lydia was bored and Stiles was busy, she called Derek now. He didn't mind, it was kind of nice to have someone to talk to after so long. He hadn't had a meaningful conversation with anybody but Scott in years, and Lydia had a way of forcing him to open up about things.

"If you're going to snub Stiles I need to know what he's up against." she said, and Derek could just hear the haughty expression she was wearing on her face.

"That's another thing, why the hell are you so pushy about me dating Stilinski?"

"Because he's pining, Hale, fucking pining." she said, and she actually sounded angry.

"Do you want to know about Matt, or not?" Derek said, wanting to switch the conversation away quickly.

"Matt?" Lydia asked, sounding very interested.

xx

Stiles Stilinski was standing in his doorway, in the middle of winter break, looking at Derek like he wanted to tear him limb from limb.

"You can't date him." he shrieked, shoving passed Derek and stepping into the house.

"Sure Stilinski, come right on in." Derek muttered, shutting the door.

"You can't date Matt." Stiles said, crossing his arms and scowling at Derek.

"I can date whoever I wan."

"No, nope." Stiles stepped up close to him, voice serious. "You can't date Matt."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Derek asked, turning away from the man and sitting on the couch, hoping if he sat there and closed his eyes long enough, Stiles' would disappear.

"I'm talking about you not dating Matt." Stiles asked, looking around the house like he expected Matt to pop out from around a corner.

"My relationship is really none none of your business."

"Well I want it to be, you asshole!" Stiles was mad now, advancing on Derek.

"Back offt." Derek said, moving to stand up.

"No." Stiles said, and he actually put his hand on Derek's chest and pushed him down, putting his full weight forward to hold him there, towering over him.

"I don't want you dating anyone." Stiles said, and he looked up, his eyes meeting Derek's. They'd only had eye contact a few times, but each time it had punched Derek right in the gut. This time, with Stiles face so close, with the man leaning over him, having just showed Derek a vulnerability that scratched at his protective instincts, it was too much. It was way too much, and Derek felt like walls he'd been spent years building up were suddenly crumbling.

"We're not. We had one date." Derek didn't know why he felt like he needed to prove anything to Stiles, but he wanted to.

"No more." Stiles said. Their eyes were still locked, Derek felt like his brain was melting.

"Why, why do you care?"

"Remember when I told you I didn't want to be Boyd's dad?" Stiles asked, and Derek nodded. "I lied. I love your son, I love your family. I," Stiles voice cut off.

"No." Derek whispered, but it was out of self-preservation, not anger. Stiles shook his head violently.

"It's not that. I don't know. I just, I want." Stiles slid his hand up Derek's chest, resting it on his shoulder. "I have no idea what. You're a fucking dick. I promised myself no more guys who treated me like crap. I just know, I know that's not who you are. I know you're good, and I want to see it. I want a chance. I want to see." Stiles was whispering, but his words were deafening.

"I am an asshole." Derek said, but he sounded weak and pathetic.

"No. No you're not." Stiles said, leaning forward.

"I hate you." Derek said, reaching out to push Stiles away. It didn't work though, his hand ended up twisted in the fabric of the man's shirt.

"I know. I know you do. I should hate you back, I wish I did. Fuck I wish I did." Stiles hand tightened on Derek's shoulder.

"Get out." Derek said, but he made no move to make him.

"Have dinner with me. Have a lot of them, have all the dinners with me. And breakfasts, and lunch."

"I thought you just wanted coffee?" Derek asked, and Stiles smiled. His eyes seemed to brighten, and Derek couldn't take it. His eyes were so beautiful, so open and expressive. They took Derek's breath away.

"I want you." Stiles said, and Derek's entire body seemed to light up at once. The hand wrapped in Stiles shirt tugged, and then Stiles was in his lap.

"Do you remember the conversation we had in Lydia's bathroom?" Derek asked, his free hand resting on Stiles thigh as the man moved to get comfortable, straddling Derek's lap. Stiles blushed, but nodded.

"I'm still fuzzy on that. Want to tell me what I said?" Derek asked, his hand tightening on Stiles' leg.

"No!" Stiles squeaked, finally breaking their eye contact to look down at his lap, which was pressed firmly against Derek's stomach. "I don't, I don't know if I'm ready to have this conversation anyway. You just told me you hated me."

"I do. I hate everything about your stupid personality, but there isn't a single flaw in your body." Derek said, and he felt Stiles hand clench painfully on his shoulder.

"You can't say shit like that. I won't have sex with you unless you like me." Stiles said, and Derek growled.

"Sex can be hot with someone you hate."

"Well I don't hate you! You make me so angry but I've never hated you. I just want you to be nice to me." Stiles said, and Derek's hands found their way to the man's hips, resting there gently.

"Maybe I'm not capable of that." Derek said softly. "I'm not patient, not even with my kids. I have a sharp tongue, anger management issues and a list of baggage so long you wouldn't even have the time to go over the words in glitter if you spent the rest of your life."

"Oh my god,." Stiles said, giggling. He leaned forward and placed his forehead against Derek's, his breath ghosting across Derek's lips as he laughed quietly.

"Daddy?" came a voice from the stairway, and both men turned their heads quickly, their noses smashing together painfully. All three kids were standing in the living room. Erica looked smug, smiling at Derek with her eyebrows raised, like she was right all along and he was a dumbass, which was probably true. Boyd looked like Christmas had just come early as he looked at Stilinski's reddening face. Isaac looked angry, sad, and betrayed.

"Kids." Derek coughed out, lifting Stiles off him and depositing him onto the couch next to him.

God damn kids.

Chapter 12: Stop, drop, and grope

NOTE;_ Derek texting. **Stiles texting.**_

Derek walked Stiles to the door, but before he could usher him out Boyd latched himself onto the man's leg.

"How did you get to my house, Mr. Stilinski?" Boyd asked, smiling up at the man.

"That's a good question, actually." Derek said, raising an eyebrow at Stiles.

"It's uh, on file? At the school, you know." Stiles reached down to pat Boyd's head, and the boy made a happy noise.

"You looked it up just to come tell me about Matt? You do have my phone number, you know."

"I know it's not the most ethical thing to do but," Stiles just shrugged.

"Well it's not like I'm one to talk." Derek said, smiling gently as Boyd practically forced Stiles to bend down and pick him up. He wrapped his arms around Stiles neck as best he could while the man balanced Boyd on his hip.

"Cause you're a bad one, Mr. Grinch?" Stiles asked, smirking.

"I did the same thing, with Lydia." Derek shrugged.

"Ah. I had wondered about that, though I figured she'd found you on the street and kidnapped you." Stiles laughed, and Derek refused to look at his eyes while he did.

"Right." Derek said, reaching out for Boyd. Stiles handed him over, though Boyd pouted and leaped out of Derek's arms almost instantly.

"I should be going." Stiles said, and Derek opened the door for him.

"Yeah." Derek said, and froze as Stiles leaned in close, breath ghosting across his ear.

"Dinner." Stiles whispered in his ear, before pulling back and winking. "And happy holidays." he said louder, addressing the whole household.

"Happy holidays!" Boyd shouted, jumping up and down.

"Happy holidays Mr. Stilinski." Erica said politely.

"Sure." Derek said, before shutting the door on the man.

Before he could turn around Isaac was there, trying to push him. Derek didn't budge, so he punched him in the shin instead. Derek could see that he was holding back tears, and he sank to his knees to wrap his arms around his son. He made an angry sound and tried to squirm away, but Derek held him tight.

"Isaac, listen to me." Derek started, but Isaac screamed over him.

"No!"

"Isaac." Erica said soothingly, moving to stand next to them, trying to get her brother to look at her. "Come on."

"No, no you can't do that." Isaac said. "You can't do that to papa."

"Papa isn't here anymore Isaac, you know that." Derek whispered.

"It doesn't matter! Just 'cause papa's soul is somewhere else doesn't mean you're not still his! Papa wouldn't like it!" Isaac was crying now, pushing his hands clenched into tiny fists against Derek's chest.

"Yes he would!" Erica shouted.

"Papa would want us to be happy, all of us. He wouldn't want me to be lonely." Derek said, trying to keep himself from crying, he knew it would just make all his kids cry with him and he didn't want to make the situation worse.

"You're not alone, you have us. You're just a jerk!" Isaac finally managed to free himself from Derek's embrace.

"It's not the same thing, Bug." Derek said.

"I wish papa were here! Papa should be the one whose still here, he wouldn't do this! He wouldn't try to replace you!" Isaac screamed, turning around and running up the stairs.

"Isaac!" Erica screamed. "You're acting like Boyd!" she took off after her brother, and Derek let them go.

"Hey!" Boyd said, sadly. Derek scooped him up in his arms, even though he squirmed, and carried him slowly up the stairs. He held Boyd a little more tightly than he should have, but he was barley holding himself together. Isaac had basically just told Derek he wished he were dead, while Scott was still alive. It had been a thought Derek had himself, too many times to count. That he was the one who had deserved to be killed, that Scott was too kind and perfect to die that way. That the kids needed Scott, not Derek.

"Remember how you said you wanted a mommy?" Derek whispered against Boyd's temple, and the boy nodded enthusiastically. "How about a Mr. Stilinski instead?" he asked, kissing his son gently.

"Yes!" Boyd pulled back to look at Derek's face, his smile lighting up the world. "Are you gonna marry him? Oh please, daddy?"

"I don't know." Derek said.

"But you like him, right?" Boyd asked excitedly.

"No. I don't know. Maybe I could." Derek said, and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from screaming.

"You should, he's my favourite." Boyd said, before burying his face back into Derek's shoulder.

Derek put Boyd in his room to play, kissed Erica when she came out into the hallway to talk to him, waving the conversation off for another time, and locked himself in his bedroom. Erica knocked lightly, but he ignored her. He buried his face into his pillow, and sobbed. He'd never changed the pillow case on the right side of the bed, it was still the one Scott had slept on on his last night on earth. The scent of his shampoo had long been gone, with kids bouncing on the pillow, using it to start pillow fights and build forts, but Derek liked to pretend he could still smell it. Nobody besides him and his kids had ever slept in this bed since Scott died. It was a Hale-only bed, and the thought of someone else sleeping in it had long terrified Derek. Now though, it seemed too big. It seemed cold, and empty, and Derek felt lonely. He felt broken, and he was sick of it.

"You'd want this, right, Scott?" Derek whispered into the empty room. "You'd want me to find someone to grow old with, like we were supposed to do?" His words broke off into more choked sobs.

He fell asleep like that, with his tears drying on his husband's old pillow. He didn't wake up again until Erica started calling for him from the hallway, telling him it was dinner time.

xx

Stiles was in Lydia's living room when he got the text. He was surprised when his phone told him it was from Sour-brows. His shocked turned to glee, however, when he read it.

_Dinner._

"Yes!" Stiles exclaimed, doing a small fist pump.

"I take it it's good?" Lydia asked, not looking away from the equation she was doing on the white board.

"He finally caved, I knew he would. I'm irresistible, who wouldn't want all o' this." he said, snapping his fingers. Lydia just snorted.

His brain worked frantically on a response.

xx

It took Stiles so long to reply that Derek actually got nervous, tapping his fingernails anxiously on the kitchen counter. The kids were eating lunch, Boyd talking happily about dinosaurs. The last few days Boyd had been back to his old self, happy and smiling, looking up to his big sister like she was a queen. Isaac, however, refused to talk to Derek. He was a quiet child anyway, but he would actually pretend like Derek wasn't even in the room, waiting for Erica to push his plate to him before he even acknowledged that food had been placed in front of him.

Derek's phoned buzzed against the counter top, and he picked it up before it could even finish.

**I knew you liked me! Sat 7, Belago's?**

Derek frowned, wondering if this was actually a good idea.

xx

Saturday came a lot sooner than Derek would have liked. He sat in his car a block away from the restaurant until he was officially late, even though he'd gotten there ten minutes early. He smacked his head gently against the steering wheel before forcing himself to get out and walk to the place. Belago's was fancier than Derek was used to. With a coat check and waiters in tuxedo's, mood lighting, and eighty dollar salad's. He'd never been there.

"I'm meeting someone, Stilinski." Derek told the host, trying not to scowl too much. Someone tried to take his coat and he smacked their hands away, growling under his breath.

"Right this way, sir." a woman said, seeming to come out of nowhere with a menu and napkin draped over her arm. He followed her through the dark restaurant. When he saw Stiles his stomach did that painful clenching thing that hadn't happened in a while. Stiles looked up as he approached, his mouth falling opened slightly when he saw Derek. The candle on the table reflected light into Stilinski's eyes, and Derek nearly swallowed his tongue at the sight.

"Hi." Stiles breathed out as he sat down, waving the woman away as she tried to place the napkin in front of him.

"Stilinski." he said, trying not to look at the man's stupid eyes.

"You look, wow. I mean you always look hot but, wow. I've only even seen you in your scrubs or like, a Henley. This is, yeah. I like this. You're, gorgeous." Stiles said, and Derek had to resist the urge to flex his chest under his dress shirt. He'd bought _another_ new one, this one a soft black cotton that hugged his muscles perfectly. He wore a simple black blazer over it, with black jeans. He had tried to not make an effort, but he'd spent longer getting ready for this dinner than he had for his date with Matt.

"You don't look too hideous, either." Derek said, knowing it the understatement of the year. Stiles was wearing a soft burgundy V-neck, made of some material that looked incredibly soft and ridiculously expensive. His blazer was fitted, black like Derek's but with a silk lining and thin lapels. He looked fucking _delicious_.

"Oh please, I already know how much you want my body, don't even pretend." Stiles smirked at him, and Derek growled.

"Fine, but it's not like you'd let me bend you over this table and fuck you right here, so we shouldn't get into how gorgeous you are." Derek said roughly, and he saw Stiles' breath catch in his throat.

"Jesus, would you stop saying things like that?" Stiles said, taking a sip of his water to try and cover up his blush.

"Well I don't like much about you besides your ass, so I don't know what else you want me to say."

"Not much? But that must mean there is something." Stiles smiled, and Derek huffed. "You do that a lot."

"Do what?" Derek asked, finally opening his menu and looking through it.

"Growl, snort, I bet you even howl when nobody is looking."

"I'm not a dog." Derek said.

"Oh, I beg to differ." Stiles said, and when Derek looked up at him his face was hidden inside his own menu. They fell quiet until they ordered, Derek cringing a little when Stiles ordered the most expensive thing on the menu.

"No offence, but I thought teachers made shit money?" Derek asked, taking a sip of his water.

"That is true, but strippers make bank." Stiles said, winking, and Derek choked on his water. Derek tried to be quiet as he coughed, and Stiles was stifling laughter. "Oh my god, your face. That was a joke. I'm not a stripper, I'm an artist."

"Right." Derek said, clearing his throat.

"I paint, abstracts. It's a recent thing, just in the last few years. I got into a gallery though, and they sold like hot cakes. I still make a big chunk of money on prints and things."

"I see." Derek said, looking down at his hands. It was hot in the restaurant, which is probably why they undressed people at the front door. He slipped out of his jacket, placing it on the back of his chair. He glanced at Stiles, and the man was watching his movements, eyes focused mostly on Derek's chest. He smiled to himself before unbuttoning his cuffs, rolling up his shirt sleeves to his elbows. He flexed his forearms and Stiles blushed.

The waiter chose that moment to bring out their first course, and Stiles attention was shifted from Derek to food. Derek had seen the man eat before, and he assumed it'd be just as unsightly this time. He knew he was right when Stiles shoveled a forkful into his mouth that made his cheeks bulge.

"That's attractive." Derek whispered.

"You'd do me." Stiles joked, smiling even though he still had food in his mouth.

"Only if you kept your mouth shut."

"You could gag me." Stiles said, and Derek's knee gave an involuntary jerk, slamming into the bottom of the table. His knife went clattering to the ground and both of their waters were knocked over, soaking the table cloth. Everyone stopped to look at him, and he thought things couldn't get worse, until Stiles screamed and Derek noticed that the candle had been knocked over too, and their table was now on fire.

"Oh, fuck." Derek said, jumping out of his seat, moving around the table quickly to pull Stiles away, he wrapped his arms around his body protectively, moving himself between the man and the now fully-engulfed-in-flames table.

"Aw damn it, that salad was delicious. Now it's on fire." Stiles said, and Derek suddenly felt something he hadn't felt in a long, long time. Panic. Nobody had put the fire out yet. Didn't anybody realize how dangerous fire was? Fire killed people. Fire killed lots of people, it killed people Derek loved. There was no way in hell he was going to let fire kill Stiles.

Derek whined lowly, getting even closer to Stiles before reaching down and sweeping him up into his arms. Stiles squeaked, throwing his arm around Derek's neck to keep from falling. Then Derek ran, wanting to get Stiles as far away from the fire as he could. In his panic he didn't even register that the waiters were trying to put it out now, and the host was screaming at him to stop. He went out the door, not stopping until he bodily slammed into the side of his car. Stiles was protesting but Derek wasn't listening, he just unlocked his car and shoved Stiles inside.

It wasn't until Derek slid into the driver's seat that he let the panic take over completely. He leaned forward against the dashboard, and let himself choke. He stopped breathing, stopped hearing. It was a sensation he had gotten used to when he was younger, but he had forgotten how to make it stop. There was a weight against his back, and a buzzing in his ears. He tried to tell what it was but his mind was shutting down. He felt his body shaking, but he couldn't control it.

"Derek." the buzzing said, and he tried to focus on it. "Derek." it said again. "Please." it wasn't a buzzing, it was a voice, a voice Derek knew. "Come on Derek, it's okay, I'm here. I'm here Derek, I've got you." _Stilinski._

Derek stopped shaking, started breathing, and realized that Stiles had leaned across the car to drape himself across Derek's back. His hands were gripping Derek's upper arms, his mouth next to Derek's ear, whispering to him.

"Okay, Glitter." Derek grunted, and Stiles moved away, but only enough that Derek could lean back. He was still pressed against his side with his arms wrapped around Derek.

"I think we just dined and dashed. Setting the restaurant on fire was a good diversion tactic." Stiles said, and Derek shivered, whining slightly. "What, what is it? Was it the fire, is that why you had the panic attack?" Stiles asked, and the hands on Derek's arm started rubbing, soothing away the tenseness in his muscles.

"How did you know what was happening?" Derek asked. His voice cracked, he realized he was crying. Well _fuck_, that was just great.

"I used to get them."

"I haven't had one in years." Derek said, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. "I thought," he paused, his breath catching in his throat. "I thought it was going to take you." he whispered.

"The fire?" Stiles asked, and Derek nodded, placing his hands over his face. "It's okay, we're safe. It was a small fire, it's okay."

"Stilinski,." Derek said, asking for something but not knowing what. Stiles seemed to know though, and let go of Derek with one hand to reach the lever of Derek's seat. The seat snapped down, and Derek was suddenly laying back. Stiles climbed into Derek's seat with him, wrapping his arms around Derek's chest and running his fingers through his hair.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Stiles asked, leaning away awkwardly to make sure they weren't touching from the waist down.

"No. I don't talk about it." Derek said, reaching out and grabbing at Stiles arm, squeezing it tightly. Part of him wanted comfort, but a smaller, older part of him, was trying to bruise him again.

"That's why you have panic attacks." Stiles said, his voice was tight, and Derek knew he was hurting him. For a moment he didn't care, but then he remembered what Stiles had told him about Matt, and he loosened his hold. He made a promise to himself right there that he'd never hurt Stiles again, never mark him without his consent. He ran his fingers soothingly against Stiles' arm.

"I don't talk about it." he said again, and Stiles huffed at him.

"Why are you afraid of fire, Derek?" Stiles asked. Derek tried to growl, but it came out as a choked sigh. "You can tell me, Derek."

"My family died in a fire. All of them. My parents, my uncle, my cousins, my twin sister, _everyone_. Every single Hale."

"Shit." Stiles said.

"Don't." Derek snapped.

"What?"

"Don't you dare say you're sorry, if you say you're sorry I'm kicking you out of his car and you can walk home."

"You do remember that we came in separate cars, right?" Stiles said, smiling. And shit, he was right. "I was going to say that, but I guess now I won't."

"I don't get it." Derek said, and he reached out with his other hand, grabbing Stiles by the hip and pulling him forward. Stiles squeaked as Derek fitted one of his legs between Derek's, wrapping his hand firmly around the man's thigh.

"What?" Stiles asked, a little too loudly in Derek's ear.

"I don't get why people apologize when someone dies. Why are you sorry? It's dumb."

"No, I mean what are you doing?" Stiles asked, starting to lean up. Derek just pulled again, and Stiles face planted into Derek's chest, moving hastily to get his hands under him again. They ended up on either side of Derek's head, while Derek had maneuvered Stiles' lower half to be straddling him.

"I'm just getting comfortable." Derek said, looking straight into Stiles' eyes. They were so beautiful. Stiles was beautiful, especially when he blushed, which he was doing now, his whole face red.

"You're a pervert, holy shit." Stiles said, and Derek just smirked. He tightened his hold on Stiles hips and pushed him down, grinding their crotches together.

"Sometimes." Derek said, and Stiles sputtered.

"Hey, whoa, stop it handsy. Bad touch. Not on the _first date_." Stiles reached back with one hand to smack at Derek's hands, pulling his fingers away. With his weight on only one hand, Stiles face lowered closer to Derek's. Derek let him move his hips away, reaching up to grab the back of the man's neck instead.

"This isn't a date." Derek whispered, and Stiles eyes were piercing through him, making his heart rate speed up almost painfully.

"Are you going to kiss me?" Stiles asked, and Derek smiled.

"Do you want me too?" he teased, and Stiles rolled his eyes before leaning forward, kissing Derek roughly. Derek let out a surprised groan as Stiles' lips sealed over his confidently. Derek's entire body tingled and white lights burst behind his eyelids when he closed them. Stiles mouth felt amazing, his lips were soft and warm and Derek held him close, wanting more. Stiles sighed against him and Derek's heart fluttered. He didn't think he could hate the man now, though he still wasn't sure if he really liked him.

But he _damn sure_ liked kissing him. Stiles mouth opened slightly, his tongue running gently against Derek's upper lip. Derek growled into Stiles' mouth, making the man shiver above him. He let Stiles slip his tongue into his mouth before biting down gently. Stiles made a soft sound, and then his tongue was gone, replaced with teeth biting down on Derek's lower lip, tugging gently. Derek sighed, licking across Stiles' teeth until he brought his lips back, soothing the hurt from the bite. Derek nipped at his tongue again in retaliation, and Stiles moaned. Full on _moaned_ and Derek felt the noise in his entire body. It shot through him like electricity.

Then Stiles was gone, pulling away and retreating all the way back to the passenger seat.

"See, I told you that you liked me." Stiles said, breathing heavily as he looked at Derek with a grin on his face.

"You're tolerable." Derek said, reaching down to fold his seat back up.

It was then that a fire truck flew passed them, and Stiles dissolved into laughter.

"I think this is actually the best date I've ever been on. It's not often I get bridal carried away from life threatening danger by a guy who claims he doesn't like me, which is a total lie cause he wants me so hard a blind man could see it." Stiles kept laughing, and Derek watched him with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. Now get out of my car before I throw you out." Derek said, but he knew Stiles could tell he didn't mean it. Stiles did get out though, blowing Derek a kiss before taking off back towards the restaurant parking lot. Derek had a smile on his face the whole drive home, as hard as he tried to make it go away.

Maybe he didn't hate Stiles Stilinski quite as much as he thought.

Chapter 13: My, what a big libido you have!

NOTE;_ Derek texting. _**Stiles texting**.

Derek didn't see Stiles again for the rest of winter break, he was just too busy. Three kids around the holidays was always hard, but his babysitter had gone out of town at the last minute, leaving him near panic on what to do with him. Stiles text him almost every day, though Derek only replied sometimes. They'd talked on the phone a few times, but Stiles had hung up when Derek had said something especially filthy, and he hadn't called him back since. They weren't dating, not even close to it, but Derek could begrudgingly admit they were close to becoming friends.

Christmas was great, though Derek hid upstairs like a child when Melissa came to drop off presents. He heard Erica tell her that Derek had a new boyfriend, and he heard the nervousness in the woman's laugh. He didn't have the balls to go down there and tell her Erica was wrong, Stilinski was just a friend, and he was still happily single. Matt had called a few times, but Derek didn't answer any of them. He tried not to think about the reasons why.

xx

_[11:35] What are you wearing?_

**[11:36] You've got to be kidding me.**

_[11:36] Nope. Tell me._

**[11:37] I'm at WORK Derek. Your son is sitting ten feet from me.**

_[11:37] So?_

**[11:40] We haven't even had our second date yet! I'm still waiting for that, btw.**

_[11:40] So you can't tell me what you're wearing?_

**[11:41] You're a sleaze!**

_[11:42] You're a tease._

_[12:05] You should wear nothing but glitter. It'd suit you._

_[12:34] Is it still even sex if it's phone sex?_

_[13:15] You usually never stop texting me, come on, don't leave me all alone._

**[13:30] You are ridiculous.**

_[13:30] You like me._

**[13:45] Don't remind me.**

_[13:46] Will you tell me what you're wearing when you get off work?_

**[13: 54] Come to the classroom and you can see for yourself.**

_[14:00] Can we fuck on your desk?_

**[14:01] I'm blocking your number.**

_[14:05] You'd miss me._

**[14:10] Come pick up your kids, asshat!**

xx

Derek and Stiles had their second date almost a month after their first. Derek picked Stiles up this time, resisting the urge to peek around him into this apartment to see what his space looked like.

"You look stunning. It's not fair. Why do you have to look perfect _all_ the freaking time?" Stiles said as they walked back down to Derek's car.

"You should see me when I finish a surgery, covered in dog blood and sweating up a storm. It's not cute." Derek said, and Stiles wrinkled his nose. "You look nice too, by the way."

"Why thank you, Derek."

"Of course, Glitter."

"Will you stop calling me that? Why can't you just call me Stiles like everyone else?"

"That's not your name."

"Neither is Glitter! I'm not a drag queen, Derek. I have some friends who are, but I am not. Nope. Never."

"You could always tell me your real name." he said, and Stiles just made an annoyed sound, throwing the lobby doors open and stomping to were Derek's car was parked by the curb.

They went to the drive-in, and Stiles spent the first ten minutes of the movie moving around in his seat uncomfortably before ending up in Derek's lap in the driver's seat. He kept slapping Derek's hands when they would wander into territory he deemed inappropriate. Derek didn't mind really, but after a while the press of Stiles' ass on his crotch was becoming a little too much for him. Thirty minutes in he forgot what movie they were watching, and after an hour he had to shift Stiles' forward so the man wouldn't feel the press of his hardened cock.

"This is so nice." Stiles whispered, and Derek hummed in agreement. "You don't even hate me anymore."

"I still do. Doesn't mean this isn't nice."

"You can't hate the guy you're dating." Stiles said sourly.

"We're not dating." Derek said, and Stiles snorted.

"We've gone on dates, and whenever you get anywhere near me you can't keep your hands to yourself. We're dating."

"Your definition and mine are a bit different."

"That's because mine is correct and you're a silly, silly man." Stiles said, tipping his head back against Derek's shoulder, looking up at him from under his eyelashes.

"We're not dating." Derek said softly, placing his hand gently on the side of Stiles' face before leaning in and kissing him.

"Gonna make you my boyfriend on Facebook." Stiles said against his lips, and Derek just chuckled.

"Don't have Facebook." he said, and then the kiss deepened, and there was no more room for talking.

xx

Stiles wanted to be there when Derek talked to Isaac. Derek didn't want to be there at all, so he decided to let Stiles do _all_ the talking.

"Isaac." Stiles said softly as Isaac scowled at him. "Do you understand what your dad and I have been doing?"

"Cheating on papa." Isaac said.

"Uh, no. You see, technically your dad and papa aren't married anymore, Isaac. Your dad is single; he's free to date other people."

"You're lying." Isaac said, and Derek growled quietly. He was standing behind the couch Stiles was sitting on, Isaac standing in the middle of the living room.

"Please, Isaac, you have to believe me. Your papa would want your dad to find someone; he'd want him to be happy."

"You didn't know him!" Isaac shouted.

"No, but I know how you feel."

"No you don't." Isaac crossed his arms, pouting.

"Yes, I do. My mum died when I was young. Older than you, but I was still a child." Stiles said, and Derek felt his heart twist. Isaac's face softened in surprise. "It took me a long time to accept it, and even longer for my dad. He eventually started to date again, when I was all grown up. It was hard for me to accept, to see him with someone who wasn't my mother, but I knew it made him happy, and he needed that."

"Oh." Isaac said,said his voice quiet.

"You see, your dad misses your papa, I know he does. More than he shows, more than you know." Stiles spoke softly, and Derek felt tears prickle his eyes, his breath stuttering slightly as Stiles words hit him like a punch. "He loves him, and he's sad. I know he is, sad just like you are. Don't you think that would make your papa sad? To see him be lonely and hurting? Do you think that's what your papa would want?"

"I guess not." Isaac mumbled, shuffling his feet.

"I really like your dad, and if you'll let me, I want to try and make him happy." Stiles said, and Derek had to clear his throat to keep from letting his emotions bubble up. "Your papa too, I promise, I'll never do anything to hurt either of them."

"Promise?" Isaac whispered, and Stiles smiled brightly at him.

"Cross my heart." Stiles said, holding his arms open, silently asking Isaac for a hug. After a moment, Isaac obliged, stepping forward to let Stiles hug him briefly before he ran upstairs. Derek heard him slam his door.

"That was easy." Derek said, moving around to couch to sit next to Stiles.

"Wouldn't have been for you. I'm the child whisperer." Stiles said, smiling. Derek snorted.

"Did you mean it?" Derek asked, leaning closer to wrap his arm around Stiles' shoulders.

"What?"

"That you'd make me happy?"

"Of course." Stiles said, blushing. Derek leaned in, brushing his lips against the man's ear gently.

"Does that mean I finally get my phone sex?" Derek asked, and Stiles giggled.

"Maybe, if you're a good boy." he said, and Derek smiled against his neck.

xx

Lydia was ecstatic. Anytime they talked she would grill Derek, drop hints about things Stiles had said about him. He nearly slammed his head against the wall when she informed him that Stiles had_ very much_ felt his boner at the drive-in. She and Derek talked on the phone at least three times a week. He didn't see her much in person, though she lives close. She was less overwhelming over the phone, if only just a little.

Stiles didn't call Derek much, because Derek would always bring up the topic of Stiles' ass and he'd hang up. They text every day, and they saw each other frequently. Derek still refused to say they were dating, because they weren't. They were just, testing each other out. Seeing if they _did_ want to date. He kept waiting for Stiles so change his mind, to realize Derek was terrible after all and walk away. He kept expecting to get annoyed with Stiles, but the more he found out about the man, the harder it was for him to find things he didn't like.

Derek was dangerously close to liking the man.

xx

"What are you wearing?" Derek asked, wrapping his arms around Stiles' waist.

"You can see me, you goof." Stiles said, laughing.

"My eyes are closed." Derek said, and he closed them so he wouldn't be lying. They were standing in the classroom, almost half an hour after school had ended. Lydia had wanted to take Erica shopping, so the boys got to spend the afternoon at their grandma's house. Derek got to spend the afternoon with Stiles.

"I'm wearing clothes." Stiles said, dropping his voice, purring a little. It was sexy, even if he wasn't saying anything really.

"Do that again, but this time, say my name."

"Mm, Sour-brows." Stiles moaned, and Derek just laughed.

"Is that what you call me behind my back?" Derek opened his eyes, turning Stiles around in his arms.

"Yes, they're very sour." Stiles said, standing on his tippy-toes to reach up and kiss Derek between the eyebrows. They'd finally grown back in, and Derek's face was back to normal after Lydia attacked it.

"Cute." Derek said, sliding his hands into the back pockets of Stiles trousers.

"Is sex all you think about?" Stiles asked, wrapping his arm around Derek's neck.

"I think it's because I've only been with two men, and both were very different from you. I want to know what you're like in bed, how you move, how you look, what you sound like with a cock,"

"Okay!" Stiles cut him off, blushing. "You've really only been with two men? I mean, even I've been with more than that. A _lot_ more. You know, college." Stiles said, shrugging.

"Scott was a high school sweetheart, and I've only been with one man since so, yeah, two. It'd be nice if that number went up." Derek said, squeezing Stiles' ass.

"That is so adorable." Stiles said, leaning up and kissing Derek on the mouth this time. "We're not sleeping together yet. Not until you admit that we're totally dating and ask me to be your boyfriend."

"You're killing me." Derek growled.

"Kiss me, and you can have your phone sex on Valentine's Day." Stiles said, and Derek wasted no time capturing Stiles' lips.

Chapter 14: Two steps forward, twenty steps back

Valentine's Day, and Stiles was frantic. His apartment wasn't even a little bit clean, and he was going to cook Derek dinner there. He was also running late, stumbling into his apartment with the groceries five minutes before Derek was due to show up. He threw his book bag onto the ground by the couch. And it most certainly _was_ a book bag, not a man purse, thank you very much.

He'd barley got the food in the kitchen before there was a knock on his door. Stiles swore loudly, tripping over the strap of his book bag in his haste, flipping it over and dumping it'sits contents onto the floor. Papers scattered everywhere, but he didn't pay any attention to them.

"Okay, I got it, I'm here." he shouted, pulling the door open with so much force he almost hit himself in the face with it.

"Hello." Derek purred, leaning in to kiss Stiles a peck on the mouth.

"Hey, hi babe." he said, and Derek raised an eyebrow. It was the first use of any couple-y nicknames between the two of them, and Stiles blushed, suddenly embarrassed.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Derek said, holding up a bouquet of roses that Stiles hadn't noticed before. "I didn't know what kind of flowers you liked, so I went traditional."

"Oh, oh wow, they're so nice. I love them!" Stiles said, taking them and immediately shoving his face into them to sniff them. He noticed that Derek had picked out a wrapping tissue that was infused with glitter, and he giggled happily. "Come in, come uh, and sit. Or something. Sorry it's such a mess." Stiles said, grabbing Derek by the lapel of his jacket and tugging him through the door.

"I don't mind." Derek said, and Stiles could tell he was trying to be sneaky about checking out Stiles possessions, but it didn't bother him. He had nothing to hide from Derek.

"I'll go find a vase for these. I'm not sure I have one, I hope so." Stiles said, before moving into the kitchen. He heard Derek moving around in the living room, and he just smiled to himself. Derek was in his house, of his own free will, on Valentine's Day, and he'd _brought him flowers_. Stiles felt like a school girl he was blushing so hard, trying to contain his giggles.

"Are these your work?" Derek called from the living room as Stiles went through his kitchen cabinets.

"Nah, I don't like my own art enough to hang it in my house."

"When can I see your pieces?"

"When I paint more. All my originals have sold, the gallery makes the prints, not me, so I don't have any to show you." he called, and Derek just hummed. He listened to the man move around a bit more, then there was a creak of leather-on-leather that told Stiles Derek had sat on the couch. He finally found a vase under his sink, and worked on filling it with water, setting the roses in gently. The roses were a mix of light pink and white, and he knew Derek must have spent a decent chunk of change on them, there was over a dozen here.

Stiles had never been given flowers before, except condolence flowers. He thought maybe Lydia had given him some when they were little, but he couldn't remember. He'd never gotten many gifts at all from men, unless you count that one guy who tied a bow to his own penis on Stiles' birthday. He chuckled softly at the memory, wondering if Derek would do cute things like that in the bedroom once they got to that stage. Oh yeah, speaking of Derek, the man had been quiet for over a minute.

"Hey, you drink red or white?" Stiles called, reaching up to pull a bottle of each from his wine rack. Derek didn't reply. "Derek?" he called, and again no reply. Stiles moved to poke his head around the corner of the kitchen.

Derek was sitting on the couch, a stack of papers in his hands, looking down at them angrily. Stiles looked from the papers in Derek's hands, to the papers scattered at the man's feet. They were the papers that had fallen out of his book bag. He saw the corner of Derek's mug shot sticking out from under a sheet of paper, and he suddenly realized that he'd forgotten to take the files out of his bag and put them away. Oh, oh _shit._

"Derek?" he said softly, moving toward the man slowly, with his hand out in front of him, the way you'd approach a wild animal.

"What the fuck is this, Stilinski?" Derek growled, and Stiles flinched.

"You're arrest records, and uh, Scott's case file. I was going to tell you." Stiles choked out.

"What? Tell me that you pried into my personal life, into _our_ personal lives?" Derek said, standing up and shaking the papers in Stiles' face. The picture of Scott's corpse was on top.

"No! Well, yes, I did, but it wasn't like that!" Stiles pleaded.

"You had no right! How the fuck did you even get these?" Derek moved closer, and Stiles stumbled backwards, remembering what had happened the last time he'd seen Derek this angry. Actually, he didn't think he'd ever seen Derek _this_ angry.

"My dad's the sheriff. He's the one who pulled the files! I told him I was dating you and he wanted to look you up, he's protective!" he said, and Derek growled, advancing further until he was right in Stiles' face.

"So you thought you'd keep them for yourself? Thought you'd keep around _crime photos_ of my _dead husband's_ fucking _corpse_?" Derek snarled, and Stiles had never actually been so scared in his life. He wasn't scared that Derek was going to hit him, he was scared that Derek was about to break his heart.

"No! Look I just," Stiles started, but then Derek threw the papers in his face, and he choked on his words. His hands came up to shield his eyes from the corners of the papers.

"Fuck you." Derek said, and the papers had barley fluttered to the ground before Derek was gone, slamming the door behind him.

Turns out he was right to be scared, because Stiles felt his heart ache pathetically as he heard Derek's angry footsteps fade outside in the hall. He sank to his knees, and cried. Tears dripped from his chin onto the papers below him. Scott's picture smiled up at him, and Stiles screamed. He screamed at the top of his lungs, not caring if the neighbours complained. He screamed Derek's name, screamed for him to come back, screamed nothing, just let out a wail.

Stiles punched the floor, over and over again, not stopping until he felt his hand break, the bones shattering.

Chapter 15: We're all shook up

NOTE;_ Derek texting._ **_Lydia texting._**

Derek did what was possibly the stupidest thing he could have done. He drove to the graveyard. The first year after his death, Derek had come to Scott's grave on Valentine's Day. He'd spent the whole time in silence, staring down at the headstone and reading the carving there over and over again until he had it burned into his mind. He hadn't gone to Scott's grave alone since, though he did take his children on Scott's birthday.

Scott's grave wasn't his destination though. He was walking further back, to the slightly older graves, to the plot that had been reserved for Hales' a long time ago. He was practically out of breath by the time he got there; dropping to his knees in front of his sister's grave, panting.

"Laura." he whispered, reaching out to touch her gravestone, tracing the engraving with his fingertips. Laura Hale loving sister devoted artist 11-07-1981 – 07-16-1998. "Fuck, sis, what the hell am I doing?"

Derek was lost. He hadn't seen a picture of Scott's body since the case; it had made his heart clench, his stomach churn, and the fact that he'd seen it sitting on Stilinski's living room floor made his blood boil. He didn't even give the man time to explain before he bolted. He'd open himself up to the man; let him in more than he'd let anybody in for a long time. He felt betrayed, felt like Stilinski had crossed a line that should have been sacred.

He'd been questioned after Scott disappeared. Sheriff Asshole seeming to think Derek did it himself. It didn't really help his case when he's lunged at the man, wrestling him to the ground and threatening to rip his head off. His file said so, of course, said he was a suspect in the murder of his own husband. Stiles had dug through that, had read that, had probably judged him on that. Derek couldn't handle it.

He sat there for an hour, talking quietly to his sister. He told her about Stiles, about how the kids were doing, how lost he was. How lonely he was, how he was pretty sure his heart had shriveled up a long time ago. He told her how broken he felt, how much he wished she were here to guide him. The sun went down, and still he sat there, staring at her headstone with his knees pulled up to his chest.

"You were born in November? So we missed your birthday, what a shame. You should have said something." A voice behind him said, and Derek didn't even turn to look at her.

"What are you doing here?" Derek snarled, hoping the anger concealed the hurt in his voice.

"I was actually out on a date until Stiles called me in tears, told me what happened. I made a lucky guess at where you were. Though actually I went six other places first, but we won't get into that." Lydia said, sitting down on the grass next to him, tucking her feet underneath herself.

"Great." Derek sighed out, leaning back on his hands, looking up at the night sky.

"You can't exactly hide from a genius, Derek. It took simple math to figure out where you were." She said, and he could tell she was smiling.

"I don't want you here." Derek said quietly.

"Well maybe I'm not here to see you." She said, and then she leaned forward, placing her hand on Laura's headstone. "Laura, huh? You think maybe you could give your brother here a sign that he's an idiot?" she said, and Derek growled, and Lydia actually smacked him on the arm. "Shut it Hale, I'm talking to your sister. Laura, woman to woman, these men have no idea what they're doing. Get two together trying to make a relationship work? Hopeless. Stiles, the idiot guy your idiot brother is dating, is a handful. He makes a lot of dumb choices, like taking Hale's arrest report home with him. Hale though, wow, he's a case and a half. He blows up over the tiniest things, doesn't give anybody a chance to explain themselves." With that she leaned back, and looked pointedly at Derek.

"She would have liked you." Derek said simply.

"Tell me about her." Lydia said, scooting over and placing her head on Derek's shoulder. He was still angry, but he allowed it.

"She was beautiful. We weren't quite identical, but you could tell we were twins. She was small though, dainty, lithe. She was a dancer, wanted to be on Broadway. She was tough, on herself mostly, but on others too. She actually went out to the lacrosse field once and flung balls at Scott until he could catch twenty in a row. She was feisty, a fighter. She stood up for what she believed in, didn't take shit from anyone. She was perfect." Derek hadn't talked about Laura in a long time, and he felt like a weight was being lifted from his shoulders, like sharing her with Lydia was something he was meant to do.

"She sounds a lot like you. You think she'd have liked Stiles?" Lydia's voice was soft as she spoke, like she was trying not to disturb Derek.

"She'd have loved him. They would have teamed up against me, I just know it." He said, and he almost laughed, but it caught in his throat.

"He's falling in love with you." Lydia said, and then Derek's throat closed up completely.

"What did you just say?" he asked.

"You heard me, and it's the truth." She said, reaching out to grab Derek's chin in her hands and shake his head slightly.

"He said that?" Derek asked when she stopped.

"He didn't have to. He was a mess when you left, he'd been crying and screaming, the neighbors called the fucking cops. They thought he was being murdered. Of course his dad came, chewed Stiles a new one for stealing police property." She said.

"Well then maybe he shouldn't have. He shouldn't have looked at them in the first place." He said roughly.

"Well he did, so get over it." She said, leaning more into Derek as she shivered. She was wearing the tiniest dress Derek had ever seen, and he wasn't surprised she was cold.

"How am I supposed to do that?" he asked, shrugging out of his jacket and placing it around her shoulders.

"Thanks, and I don't know." she said, pulling the jacket around herself.

"That's helpful." He snorted.

"Talk to him." She said, and Derek didn't say anything. They fell into silence for a while, just looking up at the stars, leaning into each other. Lydia was probably right when she said she was Derek's best friend. He hadn't told anyone half as much as he'd told her, except for Stiles. She knew him better than anybody, and she had a way of knowing exactly what to say to get him to accept her argument.

She had forced her way into his life, but now he couldn't imagine going on without her. He'd forgotten wheat it was like to have a sister, but when he was with Lydia, he felt like he could remember how it felt. He was on his way to being his old self, but this thing with Stilinski was a setback. He wasn't sure how to react, he just felt betrayed. He felt open and itchy, he didn't like it.

"He really loves me?" Derek asked after a while.

"A whole lot more than he should." Lydia said, and Derek felt even more unsure about what he was meant to do.

xx

Derek avoided him for weeks, and Stiles could barely drag himself out of bed in the morning without feeling guilty and sad. He didn't get a haircut, and he didn't even shave. He was started to look like a hipster, but he couldn't even bring himself to care. He lost enthusiasm during class, and some of his students expressed worried. When Allison Argent tugged on his shirt sleeve he jerked his hand away from her like she'd burned him. She looked hurt, and he felt like shit about it. It wasn't her fault, none of it was. He played it off that she'd bumped his broken hand, holding up his cast apologetically.

Boyd was the most worried, mostly because he was so tangled up in the middle of it. He forced Stiles to move his seat so he was at the very front of the class, and Stiles didn't have it in him to argue, so he just sent little Sammy packing to the back of the room. Boyd had even refused to get out of his seat one day after class, but it was Erica that came to get him, not Derek.

When Stiles saw Kate Argent in the school he avoided her. He wasn't going to say anything to her when he hadn't even gotten the chance to say anything to Derek. With his luck he'd say something to her, she'd say something to Derek, and Derek would come scream at him some more for meddling.

Stiles only really talked to Lydia in the weeks following his and Derek's breakup. She talked to them both, and she refused to get in the middle anymore. She said her piece to Derek on Valentine's Day, though she never told Stiles what she said.

Now it was the end of March, and there was only a few months left of school. Derek and Stiles had only been together for two months, but it felt like he'd lost something that had been a part of him his entire life. Stiles wasn't just heartbroken, he was broken completely.

xx

"Daddy, how come you don't kiss Mr. Stilinski anymore?" Boyd asked. He was sitting on Derek's lap at the kitchen counter, just watching as Derek went through the bills. He was swinging his legs, and Derek was focused on the way his heels would collide painfully with his shin.

"We don't do that anymore, me and him." He said simply.

"Why not?" Boyd asked, tilting his head back to look at him. Derek sighed, putting his pen down and pinching the bridge of his nose. Everything with Stiles was still painful, still left Derek feeling like a pathetic asshole. He really didn't want to talk about.

"We didn't work out, we didn't like each other the right way, in the end." Derek said, ignoring the lump in his throat.

"That's not true! He likes you lots." Boyd said, snatching up the abandoned pen, lifting Derek's hand to draw on it.

"That so?" Derek asked, watching as his son drew a lopsided flower on the top of his hand.

"He has a picture of you. I saw him tuck it into his cast. Like a locket!" Boyd said, and Derek's hand clenched into a fist of it's own accord.

"Cast? What happened to him?" Derek asked, and Boyd shrugged.

"He broke his hand, won't say how." Boyd said.

xx

_[01:23] He has a picture of me that he keeps in his cast?_

_**[01:34] I'm trying to sleep, Hale.**_

_[01:35] Why is he in a cast?_

**_[01:35] Broke his own hand on V-day._**

_[01:39] My fault...?_

**_[01:40] Probably._**

_[01:41] The picture?_

**_[01:41] Your mugshot. He had to wrestle his dad for it._**

_[01:45] Stupid._

**_[02:15] He's still in love with you._**

_[02:16] I can't trust him._

_[02:34] Not yet anyway._

_[02: 58] I need time._

**_[05:36] Men are so annoying._**

Chapter 16: Sha na nana kiss the boy

When Derek opened the door to see Melissa McCall standing there, his heart seemed to slip down into his stomach.

"Hey." she said, smiling gently.

"Hey, mu-Melissa." he said, and it was obvious by the way her brows furrowed that she caught his slip.

"Can I come in?" she asked, stepping up closer to the door.

"The kids are asleep."

"I figured, but I'm not here to see them." she said, and then just pushed her way passed Derek and into the house.

"Okay. Would you like some tea?" he asked, following her rather awkwardly.

"You haven't called me mum since he died." she said, looking around the living room like she didn't even recognize it, even though she'd been in it plenty. "And no tea, thank you."

"It doesn't seem right." he said, letting himself sink into the armchair, watching Melissa as she stood in the center of the room.

"What doesn't? I hope you mean the fact that I lost my son, and then the closest thing I had left abandoned me to mourn completely alone for all these years and became so emotionally distant I'm more likely to get a hug from George Clooney than I am from him. I'd have to agree with you there, that does seem wrong." suddenly she was fuming, standing there with her hands on her hips, glaring at Derek.

"I didn't," Derek started, but she cut him off.

"Did it ever occur to you that I loved you? Like a son, Derek. When you got married and Scott moved out, I didn't loose a son, I gained one, you. Then I loose you both all at once when I have nobody else? Now I'm getting calls from my nine year old granddaughter because she's worried about you, asking if I know what's wrong. Of course I had no idea_ anything_ was wrong, why would I?" she said, finally letting herself sit. She sat on the coffee table, but still.

"Erica called you?" he asked, his voice tight. Melissa made a sound in her throat, like she was disgusted.

"Yes. She said you broke up with your boyfriend and you're depressed."

"He wasn't my boyfriend, and I'm not depressed." he said automatically.

"Yes you are. You have been for a long time, Derek. Now it's just getting worse because you bottle it all up. Did you even _tell_ your boyfriend about Scott?"

"Didn't have to, he had the case file." Derek said dryly.

"You were dating a cop?"

"No, sheriff's son."

"_Stiles_?" she asked, her eyes going a bit wide.

"What, you know him?"

"Know him? I've stitched him up more times than I can count. I used to see him once a month with some new injury when he was a boy. He came in a few months ago with a broken hand, I just took his cast off last week."

"Oh."

"No wonder he looked so miserable." she mused.

"He did?"

"Pretty sure the man hasn't showered or eaten in weeks. Guess he took the breakup even harder than you." she said, there was a pause where Derek didn't say anything so she continued. "So I take it you left him?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"The files."

"You left him because he had Scott's_ file_?" she asked.

"Yes." he said. Melissa stood up swiftly, stepped forward, and hit Derek on the forehead. He sputtered, looking up at her in bewilderment.

"God, you're _just_ as dumb as you were when you were sixteen."

"What?" he snapped, offended.

"If I know you, you didn't open up at all. You're dating the damn sheriff's kid, who happens to be the most spastic person I've ever met, and you expect him not to wonder? Not to worry? Of course he took the file Derek,_jesus_." she said, sitting on the arm of the chair he was in.

"You're taking his side, really?" he asked, glaring at her.

"No, you're both idiots. I just can't believe you dumped someone you're so clearly in love with over that."

"I am not in love with him." Derek growled.

"No?"

"I don't even like him."

"Is that why you're hairier than usual?" she said, smirking.

"Excuse me?"

"Typical man, doesn't shave after a heartbreak. You look like a lumberjack." she said, reaching out and tugging on Derek's three-inch beard.

"My heart is fine, I'm fine. He was hot, that was the extent of it."

"He was hot?" Melissa asked, giving him a look that clearly showed how much she _didn't _believe him.

"Yes. So, you're right, I didn't open up to him. Why would I open up to someone I just want to sleep with?" Derek said, folding his arms over his chest, probably looking like a child.

"You are a thirty-one year old man, Derek, who I have known since he was fifteen years old, so stop acting like a god damn child." Melissa said, rising from her seat.

"I'm not." he said.

"You are. You miss him, it's written so plainly on your face it's almost unbearable. Now, go shave." she said, and then started towards the door.

"What?" he asked, suddenly confused.

"I've done enough parenting for one night, I'm too old for this crap." she said, turning to smile at him.

"You're fifty-three, you're practically a pup." he said.

"Fifty-six, actually, you just missed a lot of birthday's being a sourpuss." she said, and Derek felt guilty, but she was still smiling.

"You're Scott's mum, not mine." he said softly, standing up to walk to where she was.

"If that's the case than I'm nobodies mum." she said, and Derek winced. "It's not the case though. I've been your mum since the day you lost yours, and you know it." she said, and then she grabbed him firmly around the neck and pulled him into a hug. He hesitated for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her, hugging back tightly.

"I still love him, I always will." Derek whispered into her hair. It was still full and thick, though there were lines of gray at her temples.

"I know, Derek." she whispered back, and it was several more moment before he let her go.

xx

Derek was drunk, and he was running, sprinting really. His vision was fuzzy around the edges, so he wasn't quite sure where he was going. He'd been at work, and then he'd been drunk. He wasn't sure how that happened, but it did, so now he was running. He was still in his scrubs, and there was a surgical mask hanging around his neck, clinging for dear life.

He hit something hard, something like a door. He fell onto his back, and he giggled. He knew he was somewhere important, but he couldn't remember where. He heard the sound of a door opening, and then someone said his name. Then everything went black.

xx

Derek woke up lying on a bed. He'd never been on this bed before, never even seen this room. He looked around groggily. There was an easel in the corner, with a large abstract painting on it. The main colour was black, but there were reds mixed in with it. The one that stood out the most was a blood red that seemed to sit on top of the rest. Derek could tell from where he sat that it was textured, that if he touched it he'd feel bumps and ridges, Derek thought it was an eye, or maybe a heart. Maybe both. He couldn't tell, maybe it was nothing.

He knew where he was, remembered running here and passing out in the door way. He'd run all the way from the clinic as fast as his legs would take him. If he hadn't been in such good shape he'd have probably passed out three miles back, when he had tripped over a crack in the street and his mind had blanked out for a second.

He got out of the bed slowly, wanting to make as little noise as possible. The bedroom was door was open and he crept out into the living room slowly. It was messier than the last time he'd seen it. There were used dishes and take away containers everywhere, and there were open CD cases littering the coffee table, bits of broken disks scattered around the floor.

"If you had died on me I probably would have thrown your body in the fireplace." Came a voice from the doorway to the kitchen, and Derek turned around quickly, nearly knocking over a pile of old newspapers.

"You look like shit." He said, and Stiles scowled.

"I wonder why." Stiles said, brushing passed Derek to sit on the couch. He had a cup of coffee in his hand, and Derek wondered how long he'd been asleep.

"I couldn't do it anymore." Derek said, moving to sit next to Stiles. "I couldn't stay away from you." He reached out to touch Stiles new beard, but the man jerked away from him.

"You're kidding me right? You think you can waltz in here and I'll forgive you?" Stiles snapped.

"First of all, I didn't waltz, I nearly killed myself running here and it wasn't exactly a highlight of my life to pass out on your feet, Stilinski. Secondly. I have a lot more to forgive than you do." He said, and Stilinski rolled his eyes.

"I have nothing to apologize for, because I was going to try and help you. My dad had the files on his table, so I saw them. Scott's was fucking open, and I recognized his name. We went to the same fucking high school; I played on the same fucking lacrosse team. Not that you would know that, because you don't give a shit about my life, you just want in my pants." Derek opened his mouth to speak, but Stiles kept talking over him. "I recognized the name so I sat, looked at maybe two pages of his file. I asked my dad about the case, because _excuse_ me for wishing you had some fucking closure because I care about your stupid, sour ass I took them because I was going to give them to you. I didn't fucking snoop through them. Now if you're here to try and make me feel like even more shit than I do, you can kindly get the fuck out of my house."

Derek was slightly slack jawed by the end of Stiles speech. He didn't get up to leave, but he didn't say anything either. He reached out for Stiles but dropped his hand at the last second. It took him almost a full minute to find his voice.

"You wanted to give them to me?" Derek said, and his voice sounded tight in his own ears.

"Sure." Stiles said, shrugging, sinking back into the couch.

"Why?" Derek asked.

"Fuck you." Stiles mumbled, but there was no emotion in it.

"Stiles Stilinski." Derek said firmly.

"Genim!" Stiles nearly screamed "My fucking name is Genim, stop _fucking_ calling me Stiles Stilinski!" he flailed out and the back of his hand hit Derek in the chest. There were tears in Stiles' eyes, but he turned his head away from Derek like he didn't want him to see.

"Genim." Derek said.

"Don't call me that either, asshole. Call me plain old Stiles or I'm hitting you in the face." He said, brandishing a fist at Derek.

"You wanted me to have my own file?" Derek said.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Stiles said.

"It matters to me. I have to know, please, Stiles?" Derek asked softly.

"My dad doesn't have digital backups of anything over three years old. If I took the physical copy, your record would dissapear. I wanted you to have them so you could get rid of them, get rid of the past. I only took Scott's too because it was there." Stiles said simply.

"Be rid of it." Derek whispered.

"Yeah, G so you could-," Stiles started, but Derek interrupted him. With his mouth. On his mouth.

"I'm sorry." Derek said, kissing Stiles gently. Stiles whined, his hands coming up to push Derek away.

"Stop, _stop_ it. You can't do this, you broke up with me, remember? And not very nicely."

"We weren't dating." Derek said, leaning over him. Stiles tried to back away, but he only succeeded in pushing himself into the corner, and Derek hovered over him, his hands on the arm of the couch behind Stiles.

"I hate you back now. I do, I hate you." Stiles said weakly.

"I don't hate you. I never did, not really. I can't do it; I can't do it without you anymore." Derek said, leaning forward to kiss Stiles' neck, which made the man squeak.

"Can't do what?" he asked, his hands coming back to Derek's chest, but they didn't push this time.

"Anything." Derek said against Stiles' neck. "I miss you; you're all I think about. All day all I do is wonder what you're doing, where you are, what we would be doing if we were together. I want to call you, to hear your voice, your laugh. I need it. I need you." Derek whispered.

"You're such a fucking asshole." Stiles said.

"I know." Derek said, sighing. "I can't change that. I'm going to hurt you,you; I'll probably leave you at least once more. I'll break your heart, probably a lot."

"That doesn't make me want to take you back very much." Stiles said, and Derek bit down on his neck, making him squirm.

"We weren't dating." Derek growled. "I want to though, now. I want it more than anything. I want you."

"I'm going to say no because you've put me through the most hellish two months of my life." Stiles said, the hands resting on Derek's chest finally pushing him away.

"Stiles." Derek said, and Stiles actually bopped him on the nose.

"No, shush. You want me? Prove it." Stiles said,said his finger still in Derek's face. "I want nothing less than my name tattooed on your forehead if you want me back, got it?"

"Stiles, Genim, or Professor Glitter?" Derek asked, smirking. Stiles growled. He actually growled, a poor imitation of Derek, and it was adorable.

"Never mind, you're a jerk. I'm not going to fall back into your arms like you didn't just break my heart. You're going to work for it, and you know what? You _will_ change. You're going to be nice to me, and you're going to get your shit together. You can't have me until you're no longer an asshole, because I'm not going to go through this again."

"Okay. Anything." Derek said as he leaned down to kiss Stiles again, and the man allowed it.

"You're going to have to meet my dad." Stiles said, and Derek just kept kissing him, humming in agreement against his lips. "And you're going to keep your hands and lips to yourself whenever I say so." Stiles said, and Derek pulled away from the kiss.

"I can try." Derek said, leaning back to move away from him. Stiles rolled his eyes.

"I didn't say so." He said, pulling Derek back down on top of him. He slid his body the rest of the way onto the couch, shifting until Derek was settled between his legs. Stiles kissed him softly.

"This seems a lot like you're taking me back." Derek whispered as the man nipped at his lower lip.

"I said I wouldn't date you, never said I wouldn't fuck you." Stiles said, wrapping his arms around Derek's waist, hiking up his shirt.

"Are you asking me to fuck you, Stilinski?" Derek asked, chuckling. Stiles stopped kissing him to look into his eyes.

"I've wanted you to fuck me pretty much since the day we met. If you hadn't dumped me we'd have already fucked multiple times by now. I want you to fuck me, but no, Derek, I'm not _asking_ you to." He said, and then he was tugging, pulling Derek's shirt over his head. He pulled Derek back down and leaned up so that their lips were touching. He didn't kiss him, he just whispered against his lips. "I'm _telling_ you to."

Chapter 17: Let's do it like they do on MTV

Stiles' hands were on his back, burning scorch marks into his flesh. Stiles' tongue tasted even better than Derek remembered. His beard was brushing against Derek's, creating friction. Stiles had his legs wrapped around Derek's waist, not even bothering to hold himself up as Derek carried him to the bedroom, he was just touching, touching Derek's body everywhere he could reach, and moaning into his mouth.

Derek barely registers the feeling of the bed hitting the back of his legs, too wrapped up in the feeling of Stiles' around him, before he falls onto it, scooting himself up to lay on the pillow, Stiles' a hot weight on top of him. Derek had always liked Stiles here best, with the man's thighs around his hips. When Stiles leaned down to nip at Derek's collar bone he looked over the man's shoulder, he could see the way Stiles ass was raised invitingly in the air.

They'd never been in a bed together, always kissing in the car, on the couch, or standing up. Stiles had never been this bold, either. He was moving quickly, kissing his way down Derek's chest already, seemingly impatient. Derek just moaned.

"God, and I never even got my phone sex." He mumbled, watching as Stiles raised his head from where he was swirling a tongue dangerously close to one of Derek's nipples.

"We could do that now." He said, his voice low and rasping.

"What?" Derek asked, reaching down to curl his fingers in Stiles' hair. It was long now, enough to tug and pull on, and Derek groaned at the look of pleasure Stiles made when he did just that.

"I'll talk to you, the way I would on the phone, and you can fuck me. We both win." Stiles said, before leaning down and biting onto Derek's nipple. Derek moaned, his hands fisting tightly into Stiles' hair as he arched up into the man's mouth.

"Yes, god, Stiles." He groaned out as Stiles flicked his tongue against the burning nipple.

"God I bet your dick is so beautiful." Stiles said before he kissed the underside of Derek's pec. "I can't wait to taste it, god you taste _amazing_, just here." He said, licking Derek's stomach. "Not tonight though, tonight I just want you in me, want to feel your cock."

"Stiles, _fuck_." Derek panted, his brain threatening to short circuit as the man laid kisses down his stomach.

"Mm, yes. You're going to fuck me so good, aren't you? I want you to fucking _wreck_ me, Derek." Stiles said, his voice breaking off into a moan as Derek's fingers tugged at his hair especially hard. "I bet you can fuck so hard, so deep into me. Going to make me feel good, aren't you Derek? Want you to fuck me until I scream."

"Jesus, _yes_, gonna ravish you." Derek said, taking his hands from Stiles' hair to fumble with the tie on his pants. Stiles was lapping at the skin above his trousers, but his hands were still under Derek's back, pinned between Derek's body and the bed. His nails kept digging into the flesh of Derek's back.

"Fuck yes, fucking claim me, make me your bitch." Stiles said, moaning, and Derek practically ripped his pants off his body trying to get them down.

"Stiles, fuck. Just, _come here_." Derek said, his hands fumbling against Stiles shoulders, trying to pull him up. He came willingly, leaning down to press his lips forcefully against Derek's.

"How big are you? Stiles asked against his lips.

"What?" Derek mumbled, finally getting his trousers to cooperate and pushing them and his boxers down his thighs impatiently.

"How big is your dick?" Stiles asked, moving to mouth against Derek's neck, just under his beard.

"Just, look down." Derek said, hands tugging at the bottom of Stiles shirt.

"No, I want you to tell me. Have you measured yourself?" Stiles panted, sitting up so Derek could pull his shirt over his head. Derek let his hands wander aimlessly across Stiles' chest. This was the first time he'd seen him shirtless, and it was even better than he'd imagined. He'd lost some definition since Derek saw him last, but he was still glaringly sexy. He had a littering of freckles across his stomach, and Derek wanted to kiss each one. He'd do that later though; right now he just needed to be in Stiles as soon as possible.

"I have, yeah, I did once." Derek murmured, pulling Stiles back down to him, groaning gently at the feel of their naked chests pressed together.

"Fuck." Stiles whispered, licking at Derek's lips.

"Almost eight inches." Derek said, groaning as Stiles' hips jerked forward, the fabric of his sweats catching on the head of Derek's penis.

"Fuck, that's good. _Good_. You're going to stretch me wide, fuck." Stiles said, whining as he thrust down against Derek again.

"Just, here, take these off." Derek said, tugging at the waistband of Stiles trousers.

"Yeah." Stiles said, reaching down to pull them off. He used both hands, so his body weight was pressed down onto Derek through his chest. Derek just slid his hands down Stiles' back, squeezing his ass when Stiles got the fabric down over the swell of it.

"God Stiles I've wanted this for so long, thought about it so much." Derek said, slapping Stiles' ass gently.

"_Jesus_, Derek. Tell me; tell me what you thought about, how did you want to fuck me?" Stiles said, and then he was leaning away, digging through his nightstand to get lube.

"On your desk. God, on Back To School night, you wouldn't shut up. I wanted to slam you down onto your desk, shut you up with my tongue. I would have bent you over right there, taken you in front of everyone." Derek said, and Stiles' shuttered and moaned. Public sex turned him on, it would seem.

"I would have let you, god I would have given you anything." Stiles said, leaning back over Derek with a bottle of lube in his hand, setting it next to Derek's head to lean down and kiss him. "Tell me more, how else would you take me?" Stiles asked running his hands down Derek's chest, over his stomach, and back up, over and over.

"In the Camaro." Derek said, and Stiles' moaned, biting his lip. Car kink too, then. "I'd have you ride me, just like we were on our first date, you in my lap, fucking yourself on my cock. I'd just watch you, god I bet you look so beautiful when you're getting fucked, Stiles."

"Not as beautiful as you probably look while fucking. God, your hips, Derek. Do you even know what you do? The way you move your hips, just watching you shift in a _chair_ is like watching porn." Stiles grabbed the lube, spreading a generous amount onto his own fingers. He kept one hand braced against Derek's chest, and Derek could feel the lube spreading across his skin. "Every time you'd sit across from me I'd make you sit in the uncomfortable chair, so you'd squirm. I'd watch the way your shirt would shift, the muscles in your delicious fucking hips working. God I just wanted those hips on me, to watch them as you fucking rammed into me." Stiles said, as he reached back, sliding his hand across his own ass.

"Oh god, fuck, _fuck_ Stiles." Derek moaned when he realized what Stiles was doing. He couldn't really see, but when Stiles bit his lip, letting out a low whine, he knew he'd pushed a finger into himself. Derek wrapped his hands around Stiles hips, vaguely noting how big they were against the man's slight frame.

"God I did this so much, thinking about you. I'd imagine your hands on me, your lips, god your fucking lips Derek." Stiles said. He was thrusting back against his finger, and Derek's hands tightened on his hips, just watching him. His cock was so hard; it was like torture every time Stiles' brushed against him. Their cocks rubbed together, but neither of them bothered to look down. He had no idea what Stiles' dick looked like, all he knew is that it felt fucking_ amazing_ when it would brush against his own.

"Yours too, Stiles. Christ, your lips are so perfect. So full and dark. I can't tell you how often I've thought about them wrapped around my cock." Derek said, using his grip on Stiles hips to pull him down further, bucking up, sliding his cock along his, making the man thrust and moan. Stiles had his eyes closed tight, and Derek could tell he was adding a second finger.

"Would you fuck my throat, make me take it?" Stiles asked, and his voice came out as a groan, and Derek wouldn't be surprised if it made him come before he even got his dick inside Stiles.

"God, fuck, yeah, if you let me. The things I want to do to you are endless, Stiles." Derek huffed out, wishing Stiles wasn't leaning so far back, he just wanted to kiss him.

"I'd let you do every single one, Derek. Fuck I've wanted you so bad, want everything you have. You've already ruined me, god you're the only one I want." Stiles said, whining and moaning as he bounced up and down in his own fingers in Derek's lap. "You're the only one, Derek, god, it's just you." Stiles said, and that snapped something inside of Derek.

With a growl, Derek surged up, flipping them over. Stiles landed on his back, whimpering as his fingers slipped from his ass. Derek tugged at his sweats, ripping them the rest of the way from his body so roughly that it made Stiles scoot down the bed a few inches. He wrapped his hands around Stiles' thighs, pulling them up and around his own waist, thrusting down against Stiles, bucking against him.

"Me too, Stiles. Me too, nobody else, not now, not after you. I'm yours." Derek choked out, capturing Stiles lips in a kiss. It was different, it felt heavier, hotter. It may have been the sex fogging his brain, but somewhere he knew it wasn't, he knew what it was.

"Fuck me, Derek, god please just _fuck me_ already." Stiles whimpered, his hands clutching at Derek's hips.

"What about," Derek started but Stiles shook his head.

"No condom. Unless you have something, I don't. I want to feel you; I want you to come inside me." Stiles said breathlessly.

"Yes, god, okay." Derek whispered, reaching blindly for the lube as he kept kissing Stiles, never wanting to stop just kissing Stiles. He spilled some on Stiles' chest in his haste to get it onto his hands, but he didn't care, and Stiles didn't even seem to notice. He broke the kiss to look into Stiles' eyes as he reached down, wrapping his hand around himself with a choked off moan. He had to squeeze himself tightly; afraid he was going to go off too soon.

"God you're unfairly beautiful." Stiles whispered, and Derek smiled.

"Every time you look into my eyes I feel like I'm dying." Derek admitted quietly, and Stiles huffed out a sigh.

"Shut up and fuck me." Stiles said, his hands tightening on Derek's hips.

"Yeah." Derek said, using his hand to guide his cock in the right direction, pressing it against Stiles' opening with maybe more pressure than he should. He pushed in quickly, impatiently, but Stiles just groaned. He watched Stiles' face as he sank into him, the way his mouth fell open as he panted, the way his eyes seemed unfocused as he looked up at Derek's face. His cheeks were red, blushed. Derek bottomed out, and he brought his hand up to brush against Stiles' cheek. There was lube and precum on his fingers, and it smeared across Stiles cheekbone.

"Come on, move, I can take it." Stiles groaned, grinding his hips down against Derek.

"_I_ can't. Fuck, Stiles, give me a second." Derek said, pressing his forehead against Stiles.

"When was the last time you got laid?" Stiles whispered, brushing his nose against Derek's.

"Three years ago." Derek said, biting Stiles' lip gently.

"Jesus, it must be like being a virgin all over again. Fuck, that's so fucking hot." Stiles said. He was right though, the feeling of Stiles around him was almost too much. He was so hot and tight around Derek's cock, it was like heaven and hell all at once, Derek was pretty sure this would be over faster than either of them wanted. He wanted it to last forever.

"It doesn't help that you're so fucking perfect." Derek said. Stiles' thighs tightened around him as he pulled out halfway, sliding back in slowly, gently. Stiles cursed, arching his back, pressing up against Derek. He kept thrusting into Stiles slowly, shaking with the effort of keeping himself from coming.

"I thought you were going to wreck me?" Stiles asked, smirking up at Derek.

"Can't, you're wrecking me instead." Derek grumbled, pressing his face into the crook of Stiles shoulder.

"Fuck me, Derek, god. Come on, fucking _pound_ me." Stiles said, thrusting down against Derek swiftly, trying to get him to speed up.

"I won't last." He said, biting down on Stiles' neck, making the man squeak.

"I don't care, god I don't care, just take me." Stiles moaned, tugging at Derek's hips impatiently.

"Fuck." Derek said, pulling away from Stiles' neck to lean up on his hands, seeking leverage. He shifted forward, getting his knees up under Stiles hips, forcing the man up into his lap. "Fine, you stupid, sexy, _glittery_bastard." Derek huffed. Stiles smiled at him, letting out a soft moan.

Derek slid out slowly, watching Stiles' eyes as he did. His pupils were blown, his eyes darkened with lust, and his eyes were just as beautiful as ever. The first snap of Derek's hips had Stiles throwing his head back, his nails biting into Derek's side. He pulled out almost all the way before slamming back in. He made his thrusts powerful, using all his strength to fuck into Stiles. It took mere seconds for Stiles to melt under him. Stiles was moaning, panting, and wrapping his legs tighter around Derek. He was saying Derek's name.

"Fuck Stiles, you feel so fucking good." Derek said, and Stiles whined. Derek felt sweat drip down between his shoulder blades. Stiles was like fucking velvet around his dick, squeezing him tight, hot. Derek fucked him, his hips slapping against the curve of Stiles ass with every thrust.

"Touch me, please." Stiles panted, and Derek didn't even have to think about it before he wrapped his hand around Stiles' cock. His other hand lost it's grip on the sheets and he fell to his elbow, bending Stiles' legs back as his weight shifted forward. Stiles cock was heavy in his hand, already leaking. He moved quickly, sliding his hand up over the swell of the head, gathering precum to slick his way. He stroked him firmly, twisting his hand when he reached the base, thumbing the slit when he got to the head.

"I'm going to come." Derek groaned, his thrusts becoming erratic, losing some of their strength.

"Me too, fuck Derek, _yes_. Come inside me, god yes, want you to fucking fill me." Stiles said, and that's what pushed Derek over the edge. He growled as his orgasm hit him, flaring white hot through him. Stiles was shouting a moment later, and Derek felt Stiles' come on his hand, between their bodies. He thrust deep into Stiles, coming inside him, coating him with it. He ground his hips against Stiles ass, making the man mewl. His cock was sensitive, sending bursts of pleasure through his body as Stiles clenched around him.

After a few moments they stilled, and Derek kissed Stiles again. Stiles sighed into his mouth, kissing back gently. Derek pulled out, and Stiles whined into the kiss. Stiles let his legs fall open, and Derek lay between them, settling there comfortably. There was come and sweat between their stomachs, slicking where their now too-sensitive cocks were brushing together. Derek knew he wouldn't get hard again for a while, it just felt nice, his body pressed so completely against Stiles.

He broke the kiss and leaned up on his elbow. He looked down at Stiles and saw so many things in the man's expression; it made his heart feel heavy. He ran his thumb against Stiles bottom lip, against his cheekbone, brushed it gently over his eyelashes. He felt words forming in the back of his throat, felt them threaten to spill out, and for once he didn't try to stop them.

"I love you." He whispered, and he heard and felt Stiles breath catch, saw his eyes widen.

"What?" he asked, his gaze burning into Derek.

"I love you. I think I have, this whole time, I just didn't recognize it. You drive me insane, Stiles. You're the most beautiful man I've ever seen in my life, and I want you, so badly. I didn't know, _I don't know_, how to love, not really. I'm terrified, of you, of us. I'm so fucking scared that I'll fuck this up, scared of what it means. I know though, that I've felt this way, the way I feel, since you climbed into my car with that god forsaken lizard." Derek said, and Stiles just looked at him, mouth slack, and eyes wide. After a while Derek got nervous. "Please say something, Stiles."

"You still have to work for it." Stiles said, fixing his face up into a scowl. "This," he gestured between them,. "was because I was probably going to explode if you didn't fuck me soon. It doesn't actually mean anything. You say you love me but, I still need you to prove it." He said, and Derek just smiled down at him.

"I can do that." He said, kissing Stiles gently.

"Good, now get off me." Stiles said, pushing at Derek's chest, rolling him off.

"What are you doing?" Derek asked, watching Stiles get up out of bed.

"I'm going to shower, and you're going to go away." Stiles said, and Derek frowned. "I don't really want to talk to you right now, I'm still mad, so go home." He said, before disappearing through the bathroom door. Derek heard him lock it behind him.

"Fine. You're absolutely impossible, you know that?" Derek huffed.

"Yes!" Stiles called through the bathroom door. "And for the record? I love you too, Sour-brows."

Derek couldn't help but smile.

Chapter 18: The Quiet Man won't shut up

Derek was happy. Sort of. Ever since they had (_finally_) gotten into bed together, Stiles wouldn't give him the time of day. He knew he was supposed to make a grand gesture of his love, but he had no idea how to do that. He'd even had his kids help him make a list on ways to get Stiles back. Isaac said parachute from a blimp, but after that he wasn't sure, he just knew it would be awesome. Erica said ride in on a white horse and ask him to marry him, which had made Derek spit soda everywhere. Boyd had just told him to use glitter, lots of glitter. Then the kids got _really_ excited and said he should parachute onto a white horse while covered in glitter. Needless to say, Derek was doomed.

xx

"You're thinking too small, Hale." Lydia said, twirling the straw that was skewered through a cherry in her drink in a way that was nearly elegant. They were in a nearly empty bar, and Lydia was on her second drink before Derek had even started his ginger ale.

"I know, that's why I called you." He said, groaning.

"Well you came to the right place, nobody knows Stiles better." She said, flagging the bartender down as she tipped the last of her drink back.

"So? What do I do?" Derek asked, watching as the bartender mixed her drink, though the man eyed her suspiciously. Probably because it was barley noon and she was speaking much too loudly. This place was way too fancy for Derek's tastes, with glass walls and mood lights everywhere. His ginger ale was fifteen bucks, and he cringed slightly when Lydia handed the bartender a fifty for her drink and told him to keep the change.

"I'm not going to just bail you out, Hale. I will help though." She said, taking a sip and then frowning into her glass, like the bartender had messed up somehow.

"How?" Derek asked, feeling very far from from helped.

"Stiles is a classic romantic. He loves old romance films, and he used to always say he wished his life was a black and white movie. He loves the men from them, with the moustaches and top hats. The accents are what would get him though, the twang all men had back in the fifties. He likes a man who is assertive. He wants a man who _demands_ love, who leaves no room for questions." She said coolly.

"Great, so what, I re-eanact a scene from The Quiet Man and he'll love me again?" Derek grumbled.

"Oh god no, you try to be John Wayne and he'll just laugh at you. Take notes though. The Quiet Man, Casablanca, Giant, Gone With The Wind, blah, blah. Watch them and then I'm sure you'll come up with something. Now, if you'll excuse me." She said. She stood and Derek thought she was going to leave, but instead she just dumped her drink onto the bar and screamed that she specifically said Sky vodka and this was Absolut and she would cut various body parts off the bartender if he didn't fix it. Derek slipped out quietly while she was distracted.

xx

"These movies are dumb." Erica whined, flopping her head back against Derek's chest to look up at him.

"What? Don't you feel whimsical, elated? Don't you dream of finding a man like that?" Derek asked, tickling her lightly so she giggled.

"No way, I already know who I'm gonna marry, and he's nothing like this whiny babies." She said, snuggling closer to Derek, kicking Isaac in the hip to make more room for herself.

"Oh yeah, who are you going to marry?" Derek asked. Trying to focus on Giant where it played on the screen while three kids squirmed around on his lap was probably not a good idea. Luckily Boyd had fallen asleep and toppled over an hour ago.

"Dean." Erica said simply.

"Dean?" He prompted.

"He's in our class." Isaac said. "He's a weird-o."

"He is not!" Erica snapped.

"Is so, he looks at dead things!"

"Whoa, dead things? Where does he get dead things?" Derek asked, attention completely averted from the movie.

"I don't know. Who cares? He's handsome and nice and he sticks up for his brother. Plus he _likes me_. He's going to be my boyfriend." Erica said, shoving Isaac when he made a gagging sound.

"Erica Bug, tell me about this boy." Derek said, turning her around to face him.

"Dean Winchester, age nine, very good looking. His grandad is the headmaster, so he gets away with all kinds of stuff. Like gluing Ms. Argent's butt to her chair. I think his dad and Ms. Argent are friends but Dean doesn't like her." She said, giggling. Derek had to fight a smile at the idea of Kate Argent with his butt glued to her seat.

"So he's a trouble maker, huh?"

"Just like papa when he was in school." Erica said, smiling.

"Yeah, that's true. Your papa used to get in all kinds of trouble for the pranks he pulled. He once put itching powder all over his coach's clothes. The man didn't stop itching for week!" Derek said. He couldn't help but start laughing, and the kids joined in.

"What else did he do?" Isaac asked.

"Let's see. Well, we had this one teacher, Harris, and he kept giving Scott detention. So your papa found all the places around the school where his name was written, and he changed them all to Horse-ass." Derek said, smiling. The children roared with laughter.

"Papa was funny." Erica said.

"He was the funniest." Derek said, and for the first time in four years, it didn't hurt to talk about Scott.

xx

"I miss you." Derek said, and Stiles froze where he was, bending over to pick some stray papers from the classroom floor. "You can't avoid me if you want me to win you back." He said, and Stiles turned to look at him.

"It just means you have to try harder." Stiles said. Derek just hummed in agreement, walking towards Stiles slowly.

"I meant it, you know. I miss your laugh, your smiles. I miss the way you smell different every time I see you. I miss the way your hand feels in mine." Derek reached out when he got to Stiles, taking Stiles' hand in his.

"Okay." Stiles said, swallowing audibly.

"I miss the way you blush, the way your breath catches every time I touch you." He said, reaching up to cup Stiles' jaw, to hear him do just that.

"Yeah, okay." Stiles whispered.

"I miss your lips, the way they part when you're thinking really hard, the way you scrunch them up when you're annoyed. I miss the way they feel against mine." Derek said, leaning forward.

"Okay!" Stiles said, bringing his hand up to clamp down on Derek's mouth. "None of that, go away." Stiles pulled away entirely, walking around Derek to get to his desk.

"Okay, fine, no kissing. I am here to talk to you though." Derek said, smirking.

"Right, sup?" Stiles asked, sitting on the edge of his desk, balancing in a way Derek would not have thought possible, with his legs up in the air, half his ass dangling off the edge.

"I have a plan, and you're gonna let me see it through." Derek said crossing his arms to keep himself from touching Stiles. The way the man was sat, his shirt was rising up to reveal a fair amount of skin above his, as always, too low slung jeans.

"Oh? What is it?" Stiles asked, and Derek could tell he was fighting a smile.

"You don't get to know yet, it's a surprise." He said.

"Ah, of course it is." Stiles said, but the smile he'd been holding back finally broke free.

"A week from now, exactly. I'll pick you up." Derek said.

"Okay."

Derek had nothing else to say, not anything that Stiles would let him say, anyway. He stood there, trying not to look at Stiles' body. Or his eyes. Or his mouth. Or his hands, which Derek could recall so vividly against his skin. He settled for looking around the room. Stiles started to say something, but cut off into a mumble before getting up and going back to what he was doing. Derek watched out of the corner of his eye as Stiles cleaned up the room, throwing away scrap pieces of paper and empty glitter tubes. He did everything quickly, fluidly, with the ease of someone who was used to doing it.

Derek's gaze wandered to the wall behind Stiles' desk, where the man had hung colourful posters about the joys of learning, reading and personal hygiene. Tacked in among the decorations and instructions, were a few art pieces done by students. Derek assumed they were the ones which Stiles was particularly fond of. It didn't come as a shock to Derek to see that many of them were Boyd's. One in particular drew his eye, and he stepped around Stiles' desk to examine it.

There were five figures, standing in a row beneath what may have been a floating salmon, but was probably a rainbow. They werelabelled with names, from right to left they read; Isack, Erica, Daddy, ME!, Stylsnki. The figures labelled Daddy and Stylsnki were holding hands, looking down and the tiny figure that represented Boyd. Derek smiled softly at the picture, leaning back against the desk, just looking at it.

"He's really good at drawing." Stiles said from somewhere behind Derek.

"He sucks and you know it." Derek said, snorting.

"You don't tell him that, do you?" Stiles asked, trying to sound accusatory, but Derek could hear the humour in his voice.

"No, it'd only make him harder to handle. If that happened I'd have to drop him off at the fire station."

"Congratulations, Mr. Hale. You just won the father of the year award!" Stiles said, in a fake announcer's voice, and they both laughed.

"I just need a good partner." Derek said.

"Everyone does." Stiles said softly, stepping up next to Derek.

"Erica found hers, you know." Derek said, and Stiles gaped.

"No!"

"Yeah, Dean Winchester, or something. He's in her class, according to her he's perfection on legs." he said, and Stiles giggled.

"Oh my god Derek, you've raised a man-eater haven't you?" Stiles asked, smirking.

"Like father like daughter. I mean, we haven't gotten to the eating part, but I assure you I am very good at it." Derek said.

"Stop that!" Stiles gasped, smacking Derek on the arm.

"Is this a courting or a donnybrook?" Derek asked, pitching his voice down and talking through the side of his mouth. Stiles looked at him in bewilderment for a few moments.

"Did you just quote The Quiet Man?" he asked.

"It is your favourite movie." Derek said, shrugging.

"How do you know that?" Stiles asked, taking a small step closer to Derek.

"You told me." Derek said, and he stepped closer himself.

"When?" another step, their hands brushed.

"Our third date, at the picnic. I told you to sit down and you said 'that's what chairs are for' and laughed. Then you told me it was a line from your favourite movie." another step, their toes kicked against each other.

"I don't remember saying that." another half step, their chests pressed together.

"I remember everything you've said to me since the day we met, Genim." Derek whispered against his lips, and then Stiles surged forward, and they were kissing. Derek was shocked for a moment, but Stiles kept pushing. He slid his hands up Derek's arms, holding on so tightly to his bicep's that his nails dug in, even through the shirt. Stiles mouth was hot, desperate against Derek. It felt so good to be back here, in Stiles' arms, kissing him. Derek reached up to cup his face, rubbing his thumbs against Stiles' cheeks.

"You're terrible and I hate you." Stiles whispered, pulling back slightly, so his lips brushed against Derek's with each word.

"I know." Derek whispered back, before licking at Stiles' lips gently. Stiles whined, and pushed forward again to pull Derek's bottom lip between his, sucking gently. Derek sighed into Stiles' mouth, nipping at the man's tongue.

"Okay, stop, stop it." Stiles said, pulling away. He didn't go far though, resting his forehead against Derek's.

"Sure thing." Derek said, watching as Stiles licked his lips.

"It is so unfair that you are this hot." Stiles said, and Derek just laughed.

"You have no room to talk. You'll be the death of me, Stiles." Derek said.

"I'd miss you." Stiles said, and it was so quiet that Derek almost didn't hear it. He did though, and it made him smile.

Chapter 19: Jamaica has problems

Boyd was meeting with his new counselor for the first time, and Derek was sweating. She'd told Derek he had to call her a counselor not a psychiatrist, for a list of reasons he honestly didn't remember or care about. When he told Boyd about his appointment, the boy had just shrugged and then ran off. Boyd wasn't nervous at all, but Derek was. He'd gotten Lydia to agree to come with them, though he'd had to promise to go drinking with her and actually drink something. Derek thought maybe the next time he and Lydia sat together in uncomfortable chairs in a strange room, it would be an AA meeting. Now though, it was the waiting room in the office of Dr. Morrell, while Boyd sat on his lap, looking around the room with a blank expression on his face. Derek was clutching onto Lydia's hand tightly, but she wasn't complaining, she was just clicking through her phone with her free hand while Derek dug his fingernails into the flesh of the other.

"Vernon Hale?" the receptionist called, and Derek was jerked out of his thoughts, which were most certainly not about Stiles and how he wished he was here, nope.

"Do you mean Boyd?" he asked, and the receptionist flipped through her papers blankly for a few seconds.

"Ah yes, Boyd. Sorry about that." she said, gesturing vaguely towards the papers in her hands. "Dr. Morrell will be with you in a moment, sorry for the wait."

Derek looked around the waiting room with a raised eyebrow. They were the only ones there.

"This is stupid." Lydia said, and Derek glanced at her phone to see what she was talking about.

"If you mean Quinto's eyebrows, I agree." he said, smirking.

"Oh, as if you're one to talk." she said, rolling her eyes. "And no, I do not mean Zach's luscious brows, I mean this," she gestured to the room. "taking Boyd to a shrink because you're a lazy father."

"I've tried, Stiles has tried, and I'm out of options." Derek said, noting how the receptionist was doing a terrible job at pretending not to be listening to them.

"I could try." she said, smiling at Boyd brightly. The boy just stared at her, leaning further against Derek's chest.

"What would your method be? Give him whiskey every time he screamed?"

"No, I'd give him Dihydromorphinone when he screams,screams and Methylhexanamine when he seems unresponsive. Like he does right now." she said, reaching out to pinch his cheek. "Hey, Boyd, you want one of auntie Lydia's magic happy pills?" she cooed, but Boyd just scowled at her.

"Mr. Hale?" Came a voice. Derek looked up to see Dr. Morrell standing in the now-open door to her office.

"Oh, yes, hello." he said, shiftingbBoyd to his hip and standing swiftly. He forgot to let go of Lydia's hand though, so she let out a sound of annoyance and jerked his arm back.

"Is this your wife?" Mr. Morrell asked, and Lydia laughed.

"Do I look anywhere near in his league to you?" Lydia asked, and Derek shot her a cold look.

"She's just a friend, I'm not married." Derek said.

"Right, well come on in." she said, gesturing for them to follow her into her office.

Once Derek had set Boyd in one of the plush chairs and taken his own seat, Dr. Morrell just smiled at them from where she was sitting across from Boyd.

"So," Derek started, but Dr. Morrell cut him off.

"Hello, Boyd. I'm Dr. Morrell; it's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you." she said, smiling sweetly. Boyd ignored her completely.

"He doesn't talk to strangers. It took him months to even say hello to Lydia.

"I see. Boyd? You don't have to talk to me. Why don't you tell your dad why it is you won't talk to strangers." she said.

"Boyd?" Derek encouraged, but the boy just sat, staring through Dr. Morrell.

"Has he always been like this?" Dr. Morrell asked Derek, leaning back in her chair to regard him.

"In a way, he was always shy, quiet. He'd hide behind my legs but he'd always open up eventually, especially to me. He's gotten worse though, he's completely withdrawn." Derek said, watching Boyd's face for any sign of emotion.

"Why do you think that is?" Dr. Morrell asked.

"You think I'd be here if I knew that?" he snapped.

"Of course not. When did his behaviour begin to worsen, that you noticed?" She asked, looking at him in a way that was slightly unnerving, like she was reading every single detail in his face.

"When he started kindergarten. He started closing himself off, no longer showing interest in things that he used to love. He only seems interested in dinosaurs and glitter anymore. If you try to get him to do something else, or try to take those things away from him, he'll become angry and violent."

"Violent how?" Dr. Morrell asked, looking over at Boyd, who was squirming slightly in his seat.

"He's attacked both of his sibling, and me on multiple occasions. He'll punch me and his brother, but he only ever shoves his sister, knocks her off things. He punched a little girl in his class though." Dereks said, frowning.

"You realize that's very worrisome, don't you?" Dr. Morrell asked, eyeing Boyd.

"Obviously,." Derek grumbled.

"I don't think you understand, Mr. Hale. Children, who are violent, tend to stay that way. Only, as they get older, their bodies get bigger, and the damage they inflict becomes more severe."

"Are you saying my kids gonna be a serial killer?" Derek asked, scowling at the woman.

"I'm saying his behaviour is worrisome." she said pointedly, turning to look Derek in the eye. "But I assure you, I will do everything I can to help your son.

xx

Stiles looked beautiful. But of course, Stiles always looked beautiful. It was just unfair that he looked like _this_. He was in swim trunks that were probably two sizes too small, dripping wet, and laughing happily as the sun reflected off his body.

"You're going to freeze to death and I'm not going to save you." Lydia said, flipping the page in her book with a flourish that could only be described as FEIRCE, all caps.

"Yes because the number one cause of death in Jamaica is freezing." Stiles said, kicking at the wave as it came up onto the shore. Derek just watched him from where he was sitting under the umbrella, feeling hot. Lydia had invited him to come with Jamaica with her and Stiles over Spring Break, and so far all he'd done was watch Stiles. He didn't trust himself to get too close in public; otherwise he might end up just mounting Stiles in the hotel lobby. Stiles had gotten into his personal space a lot in the last two days, always touching and whispering, brushing his lips against any expanse of Derek's skin he could reach.

"You're an idiot, and I'm going to the spa." She said, standing from her beach chair and walking away swiftly. Derek was still watching her go when he was suddenly getting water splashed on his face. He sputtered slightly, turning to see Stiles standing over him, shaking out his hair all over Derek's chest and laughing.

"I'm going to kill you." Derek said, ripping the towel out of Stiles hand to dab at his chest.

"I think I can change your mind about that." Stiles said, smirking. Before Derek could respond he had a lap full of Stiles.

"Oh?" Derek asked, lifting his hands to circle Stiles' waist.

"Mm, if you promise to be a good boy." Stiles said, reaching behind Derek and digging around in his bag.

"And if I'm not?" Derek asked, pulling Stiles down against his body.

"Then I guess I'll have to punish you. Naughty boys get the cane." Stiles said, producing a think wooden ruler from his beach bag.

"That's not much eincentive for me to be good, now is it, Professor?" Derek asked, smirking.

"It is if you want my lips around your cock." Stiles whispered, and Derek groaned, grinding up against Stiles' ass lazily. Then Stiles was kissing him, slow and firm. Stiles was making soft noises of pleasure against his mouth, in time with the beeping coming from his alarm clock. Wait, when had Derek brought his alarm clock down to the beach? Stiles was laughing against his mouth, and the water from the ocean crashed around them. The alarm got louder, and Derek still couldn't figure out why it was interrupting him having sex with Stiles.

_Oh._ God damn it. Derek slapped his hand down on the alarm clock a bit too hard, making the number flicker for a second. It wasn't the first dream he'd had about Stiles, but it was most certainly the best by far.

xx

It was Boyd's birthday, and they were at the Ice Rink. Derek was physically incapable of skating more than two feet without falling, so Lydia had agreed to come help keep an eye on Boyd. She said she was a pro, and Derek knew her well enough to believe her. Derek watched them all as they circled around with the few other people that were there. Lydia was just what she'd said she was, she was graceful on the ice, though she kept her pace down so Boyd could hold her hand. He hadn't thought about it at first, but over time he came to realize that one of the reasons he was bringing Lydia into their lives so much, was for Boyd. His son wanted a mother, and while he couldn't give him one, he could at least let him have a woman in his life. Derek knew Lydia would be offended if he told her she was maternal, but she was. She had an unwavering need to protect the people she loved, and Derek knew that had come to include him and his family.

He wasn't sure exactly when he'd come to think of Lydia the way he did, but he loved her. She had bullied her way into his life and heart and now he was stuck with her. He wouldn't trade her out though, not for anyone. He felt like he had a family again, a real, functioning one. Lydia and Stiles were family to him, even though he hadn't said so out loud.

"I figured six was appropriate." Came a voice, and Derek turned to see Melissa walking towards him with two huge gift bags dangling from her arms.

"Six gifts?" Derek asked, looking at the bags with mild horror.

"Yes, six gifts. He's turning six, it works." she said, setting the bags on the bench in front of Derek.

"You're insane. You've never done that before." Derek said, leaning forward to peek inside the largest bag.

"Hey!" Melissa scolded, slapping his hands.

"What, they're for_ my_ kid." Derek grumbled, sitting back and absolutely _not_ pouting. Melissa just laughed, sitting down next to Derek, resting her head on his shoulder.

"So, how are things with Stiles?" she asked.

"I have no idea." Derek said.

"What does that mean?" Melissa asked, chuckling at him.

"It means I have no idea. He told me he hated me, then he slept with me, then he told me he loved me, but he pushed me away. One minute he's kissing me and the next he's avoiding me." He said, leaning his head so it was resting against Melissa's.

"Sounds lovely." she scoffed.

"Be nice, mum." he said, rolling his eyes. Melissa seemed to freeze; just staring at him slack jawed.

"Derek." she said, smiling sadly at him.

"What?" he asked, reaching up to touch his face, wondering if he'd suddenly grown a snout or something.

"You just called me mum." she said, and it was Derek's turn to stare.

"I did?"

"You did."

"Well shit." he whispered

Chapter 20: It'll last longer if you shut the fuck up

"What are we watching again?" Stiles asked. It was the first day of the school's spring break, and Stiles had agreed to spend it with Derek. As "friends" he said, but Derek knew even he was having a hard time keeping to that. He was laying on Derek's couch, his feet in Derek's lap, as they watched some movie Derek wasn't paying any attention to, he was too focused on the fact that Stiles was here with him, and that he was being allowed to touch Stiles ankles gently.

"No idea." He said, sliding his thumb under Stiles' sock. It earned him a weird look, but he didn't stop, just rubbed his thumb along the soft skin on the top of Stiles' foot.

"Oh well, who cares? I'm just excited for you to show up with that tattoo tomorrow." Stiles said, nudging Derek's thigh with his foot playfully.

"No tattoo. You'll be pleased though, you'll be my boyfriend before the night is out." Derek said, smirking.

"Someone's sure of themselves." Stiles teased.

"Maybe. I won't be the only one full of me tomorrow night." Derek said, and Stiles laughed.

"Oh, really?"

"Really. Or, if you prefer, tonight." Derek said, sliding Stiles' feet off of his lap so he could re-position himself.

"You are one cocky bastard." Stiles said, sliding further down the couch as Derek swung his legs over Stiles' thighs, leaning forward to hover over him.

"I'm going to kiss you now." Derek said, lowering himself down until their chests were touching.

"Mm, no you aren't." Stiles said, wrapping his arms around Derek's neck.

"I'm not?" Derek asked, resting his forehead against Stiles'.

"I'll make you a deal. No kissing me anywhere but the forehead, and no touching below the waist or under the shirt, think you can do it?" Stiles asked, running his fingers through Derek's hair.

"And what do I get for my good behaviour." Derek asked, reveling in the fact that he could taste Stiles' breath when he talked.

"You get to wake up next to me tomorrow morning." Stiles said, and then he pressed a chaste kiss to the side of Derek's mouth before scrambling out from underneath him.

"That sounds fair." Derek said, standing and kicking the DVD player in a way he'd perfected that turned it off quickly.

"I'll race you upstairs!" Stiles shouted before turning and running. He was halfway up the stairs before Derek even followed. He walked though, enjoying the way Stiles ass looked as he ran up the stairs in front of him.

"You do realize you won't fit in my clothes, right?" Derek asked, smirking as Stiles reached his bedroom door and began throwing his hands in the air and declaring victory.

"Yeah, so what?" Stiles asked, slipping into the room just as Derek reached the landing.

"So you'll either have to sleep in your jeans, or naked." Derek said, stepping up behind Stiles and resting his hands on his hips. Stiles was looking around the room with interest, and Derek realized that he'd never been up here before. "And you know, you're lucky you picked the right door."

"You told me that you picked the first room in the hallway because you hate walking up stairs and don't want to walk all the way down the hallway afterwards. And I'll be sleeping in my boxers, thank you." Stiles said, reaching down to unbutton his jeans. Derek stepped up, pressing his chest to Stiles' back, resting his chin on Stiles' shoulder so he could watch as the man's fingers worked at his fly.

"I am totally okay with that." Derek said, tightening his grip on Stiles' waist.

"You know, I thought after we had sex you'd finally stop being such a horny dude. You're like one of those cartoon wolves with the bulging eyes and lolling tongues." Stiles said, and then did nothing to help the situation by bending over to remove his socks and tug his pants down. He dug his ass into Derek's crotch in a way that was obviously deliberate. He moved slowly, stripping his pants off from the ankles instead of just pushing them down. With his ass pressed against Derek so tightly, it took a few good tugs to get his pants out from between them, His boxers slipped a little when he pulled, revealing the top part of his ass, right where it started to curve. Derek couldn't help the moan that slipped out of his mouth as he tugged on Stiles' hips, grinding against his ass shamelessly.

"I didn't get to do half the things I want to do to you, Stiles. I barely got to touch you. I didn't even get to _taste_ you." he said, voice coming out harsh as he grew hard against Stiles.

"You're not the only one." Stiles said, straightening up and resting his head against Derek's shoulder. "I didn't get to taste you either, and god knows I wanted to. I didn't get to ride you, either, which is how I always imagined us doing it." Stiles said, cutting off into a groan when Derek leaned down and bit his neck.

"Fucker. You expect me not to touch you tonight? You're asking a lot of me." Derek whispered. He was speaking with his mouth still wrapped around Stiles' neck, so his words were muffled.

"I'm asking a lot of myself too, you know. I really wish you'd hurry up and prove your love to me so I could get your cock in me again." Stiles said, and it only served to make Derek's cock throb painfully where it was rubbing against Stiles.

"God, Stiles. You know I love you, fuck. If someone else told me I couldn't have them without doing some crazy bullshit first, I'd walk away. I agreed to your rules, I kept my hands off when you said so, I stayed away when you said, Stiles, I'd do anything for you. I love you; I love you so much that I ache for you." Derek whispered, sliding his hands up to Stiles' chest, placing his hands over his heart.

"You broke my heart, Derek." Stiles said, reaching up to cup his hands over Derek's.

"I broke my own." Derek whispered, burying his face deeper into Stiles' neck.

"Derek." Stiles said, smacking his hands away so that he could turn around. As soon as they were facing Derek wrapped him back up, running his hands down Stiles' back.

"I love you; more than I ever thought was possible. I never," Derek cut off, closing his eyes tight, trying to get the balls to say what he needed to say. He hid his face back in the crook of Stiles' neck, just breathing in his scent. Stiles just waited, wrapping his arms around Derek's neck, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. "I never thought I could love again. I didn't want to. I didn't want someone else here, in the house, in my bed. I didn't want anyone else around my kids. I married young, and I lost young. I was scared, and stupid. I thought Scott was forever, and I won't lie, I still love him. I always will, a little. He's the father of my children, Stiles, and he was taken from me, from us. I missed Scott, but I never mourned him. I pushed it away, I let myself become angry, and I made myself sick with guilt and pain. I didn't think it would ever go away.

"_You_ made it go away, Stiles. I didn't even notice it, but I was able to think about Scott without getting angry. I wasn't pissed anymore, I was mourning. I was mourning the way I was supposed to. I was letting him go, and I didn't even realize it. I let him go, and then, before I noticed, I fell in love with you. You were there, and you were so beautiful, and strong. You weren't afraid of me, you didn't back down from me even when you should have. You made me become the man I should have been a long time ago.

"I'm never going to stop being angry, I'm never going to be a perfect dad, or the perfect partner, but you make me want to_ try_. You make me want to fix the mess I made, to be a good man for once. I didn't think I'd ever be a part of a family again, not the way one should be. I want to though, with you. I want to make a new family with you, Stiles. I want my kids to wake up every morning to the sound of you laughing in the kitchen, making them breakfast. I want my kids to have two dads, like they should. I want it to be you, Stiles. I want you to be their dad, the dad I can't be.

"Mostly though. I want you to be mine, my partner. I want you in every way possible. The idea of waking up next to you, when you said that_, god_ Stiles, it made my heart skip. I want to wake up next to you for the rest of my life. I want to have all the dinners with you." Derek said, smiling softly into Stiles' neck. Stiles was silent for a few moments, but then Derek heard a hitch in his breath and he leaned up, looking at Stiles' face. He was crying, and when their eyes met, he could see everything he was feeling reflected there.

"Derek, you are an asshole. You are the worst and I love you so much._ So fucking much_, Derek. I just, I want that, I want all of that. I want you." Stiles let go of Derek to wipe away his tears. "We can count that as your grand gesture if you promise to sweep me off my feet in three, two, one." Stiles said, and then let out a squeak when Derek lifted him bridal style as soon as he hit one.

"Are you serious, Stilinski? I spent all this money and made all these plans, and you're counting that as my grand gesture?" he asked, feigning anger.

"Oh, well if you'd rather wait and see if your big plan works, I can say you're still not my boyfriend." Stiles said, and Derek growled at him. Stiles just laughed, leaning forward to kiss Derek gently.

"You are impossible." Derek said, taking the few steps necessary and depositing Stiles on the bed. Stiles leaned up on his elbows, smiling up at Derek. Derek stood by the bottom of the bed and watched as Stiles' face changed from amused to determined. He knew that look, even though he'd only seen it once before. Stiles bent his knees, spreading his legs obscenely.

"Unless all those feelings killed your boner, I'm thinking maybe I can rethink my rules for the night." Stiles said, licking his lips in a way that, on anybody else, would have been laughable. On Stiles' though, it was downright _sinful_.

"Why don't you fill me in on the new ones, then?" Derek asked, crawling onto the bed, sliding his hands up Stiles' legs as he settled between them, resting his hands on his spread knees and pressing his chest against Stiles stomach.

"You can touch me anywhere you want, kiss me anywhere you want, put any damn part of you that you want inside of me, but you're not allowed to stop, ever, not ever." Stiles said, reaching down to slide his fingers into Derek's hair.

"I think I can live with those rules." Derek said, running his hands down Stiles' thighs slowly, stopping to tease at his waistband before sliding up under his shirt, pushing the thing up as he slid his hands across Stiles' stomach.

"Oh, also you have to hurry, get round one over with because I have been so pent up these last few weeks I can barley focus." Stiles said, his voice fading into a whine as Derek's fingers found one of his nipples.

"You've been working out again." Derek said, appreciating the way Stiles' stomach was harder than before, the outline of abs just starting to show. He ran his tongue across one of those lines, and Stiles whined.

"I needed some way to burn out my energy every time you touched me. Or looked at me. Or happened to breathe the same air as me." Stiles said, laughing breathlessly.

"That is incredibly unfair, all I was able to do to get it out was lock myself in the bathroom and fuck my fist until it hurt." Derek said, biting Stiles' stomach gently before he leaned up, pulling Stiles' shirt over his head.

"God see, just the idea of you jacking off? That's hot. I mean the idea of you reading the fucking newspaper is hot,honestly. You're just hot, lava demon hot." Stiles mumbled, and Derek chuckled.

"Are you saying I'm a Balrog?" Derek asked, trying not to laugh at the look that crossed Stiles' face.

"I just fell even more in love with you, I think." Stiles said, reaching up and making grabby motions towards Derek.

"I can most definitely live with that." Derek said, leaning into Stiles' waiting hands, letting himself get pulled down into a kiss. The joking atmosphere seemed to evaporate the moment their lips touched, and Derek's dick seemed to remember that it existed and decided it wanted to take over for a while. Derek was all too happy to let it.

xx

Stiles had been waiting for Derek to do something outrageous to prove his love, but it turned out he didn't need to. Stiles new Derek loved him, knew that if he kept pushing him away, eventually that wouldn't be enough to keep him around. He loved Derek, and had forgiven him months ago for being a jerk. It didn't matter, because right now, he couldn't even remember why he was pretending to be angry anyway.

Derek had his hands all over him, and Stiles' could barley tell what they were doing. Derek seemed to be pinching his nipples, stroking his sides, and clutching his throat all at once. His skin burned, and Derek felt so good lying between his legs, he could barley breathe.

"Derek, I'm going to cum in my shorts if you don't get naked and start fucking me, like now." Stiles said, breaking off the kiss to pant in some oxygen.

"I can do that." Derek said, sitting back to pull his shirt over his head swiftly, throwing it somewhere behind him. Stiles hadn't gotten a chance to appreciate just how good Derek looked while taking his pants off last time. He'd been wearing scrubs anyway, so Stiles was sure it probably wasn't nearly as sexy as watching Derek's fingers fumble around the belt that was totally useless seeing how tight the man's jeans were. He kept his eyes on Stiles the whole time, watching his reactions. Once he got the pants unbuttoned, Stiles' could see that he wasn't wearing anything underneath. He had no idea why that was so sexy, but it made him whine pathetically. Derek raised an eyebrow at him, smirking like he was planning something evil. Which was clearly was, since he stopped in his movements to run his hands up over his own chest. Stiles just barley bit back a moan as he tracked Derek's hands with his eyes.

"You aren't a Balrog, you are Satan incarnate and I hate you." Stiles said, but he moaned it out, so it didn't have the affect he'd been going for. Derek just chuckled lightly before running his hands back down his body. One of his fingers caught on his nipple, and he let out a quiet noise. Stiles squirmed down, pressing himself closer to Derek's thighs, locking his knees around the man's hips. He was quite positive he'd never been this hard in his life, and it was starting to get painful.

"I can't wait to spend the rest of my life watching you unravel beneath me." Derek said, and Stiles nearly choked as his body tried to moan and whimper at the same time. Derek ran his hands over his abs, scratching himself lightly. He arched his hips forward into his own hands, and then finally his hands were at his trousers again. Stiles let out a sound of appreciation, but it turned into another whine as Derek moved a hand down further, and cupped himself through his jeans. He pressed against his palm, groaning as he ground against himself. Stiles was pretty sure he was going to cum before Derek even finished with his teasing show, but he decided he didn't care.

"Fuck, Derek. One day you need to strip for me. Fireman's outfit, cheesy music, lap dance, the whole shebang. Then you can _not_ take the fireman's outfit off actually, I'd like it if you fucked me while wearing it." Stiles said. Derek chuckled slightly, though he was still making pleased noises as he teased himself through his jeans. "I'd also really like it if, right now, you fucked me _at all_." He added.

"You made me wait all this time, so you can wait a few minutes." Derek said with a smile. That was when Stiles seemed to remember that he had hands of his own, and legs, and working muscles and he didn't have to lay there and take this torture. He would be insanely proud for a few weeks at the look of pure shock that crossed Derek's face when he flipped them, pinning Derek's wrists next to his head as he straddled his stomach.

"I will not wait a few minutes, I will not wait at all, I am going to have you right now, Derek Hale." Stiles said, leaning down to nip Derek's collarbone. For a split second he worried that it was too rough when he felt the skin give under his teeth, but Derek just let out a high pitched whine. Which of course, went straight to Stiles' cock and reminded him that he was on a mission.

"You're impatient." Derek panted out, reaching out to clutch Stiles' waist the moment Stiles let go of his wrists.

"You're a tease." Stiles' said, reaching down to tug Derek's jeans the rest of the way off. He took the time to admire Derek's cock, since he hadn't seen it at all last time they'd done this. It looked longer than the almost-eight-inches Derek claimed it was, and it definitely looked as thick as it had felt. Stiles was pretty sure if he wrapped his hand around it, his finger tips would just barley meet his thumb. Derek was cut, and precum glistened on the tip of his cock already, proving to Stiles that Derek was pure evil, if he was willing to torture himself just to tease Stiles. Stiles was pleased, if a little surprised, to see that Derek wasn't nearly as hairy as he'd expected. The trail of hair that led down his stomach ended in a soft bush of hair that Stiles had the strange urge to run his fingers through.

"I don't think you can get it inside you by staring at it." Derek said, and Stiles' felt himself blush. He didn't look away though, just reached down to pull off his boxers. It was a little difficult to do while straddling Derek's thick, muscular, _oh_ so perfect and sexy thighs. It was also difficult to focus on the task at hand once he actually noticed that Derek's thighs were all those things, and all he wanted to do was bite them until Derek was _begging_ for it.

"Just shut up. This isn't going as smoothly as last time, and I blame you, so shut up." Stiles said, finally getting his boxers off and throwing them at Derek's face. Derek actually tucked them under his pillow, winking at Stiles.

"I think you're just nervous, because this time it means something." Derek said, reaching out to pull Stiles down on top of him. They both groaned when their cocks slid together, but neither of them rocked into it, the desperation in Derek's eyes had turned into something else, and it made Stiles' chest feel tight.

"What does it mean?" Stiles asked, only because he wanted to hear Derek say it. He wanted to hear him say it every day for the rest of his life.

"I love you, and you love me. I'm yours, and you're mine. If I get my way, you'll never fuck anybody else, and neither will I. You're my endgame, Stiles." Derek said, and Stiles was totally on board with that plan.

"Yes, I think I'm okay with that." he said, before leaning down to kiss him again. This kiss was brand new, something they'd never felt before. It was so soft, so gentle; it made tears prick at Stiles' eyelids. It was everything they felt, everything they'd been feeling, poured into one kiss, into this one moment. It felt so good, so right.

Then Derek rocked up, and the feeling was suddenly more. It was love, and emotions, but it was also Stiles' dick touching Derek's dick and he was pretty sure their dicks were just as in love as the rest of them was, because it felt like electric shock when Derek's cock head caught on Stiles' foreskin.

"Oh my god just put it in me already." Stiles whispered against Derek's lips.

"In the nightstand, there's," Derek said, but Stiles cut him off.

"No, no, just fuck me." Stiles said, scooting forward, trying to encourage Derek's dick to get where he wanted it to go without having to move his hands from where they were massaging against Derek's impeccable Pecs. Stiles mentally saved that phrase for later use, because impeccable Pecs sounded cute, as well as accurate.

"I don't want to hurt you, no matter how horny you are." Derek said, trying to reach the nightstand from w here he was, in the center of the bed.

"No need. I knew I was going to be spending an extended period of time in close proximity to you tonight, so I took the initiative to release some tension before I came over." Stiles said, whimpering when he finally wiggled in the right way and Derek's cock slipped between his ass cheeks. He rubbed himself against it, feeling the precum spread across his crack. He couldn't get it to go at the right angle to push inside of him, but this was close enough, and it felt good anyway, when the ridge of Derek's dick slid against his opening and pulled a little.

"Jesus, you had to fuck yourself just to be near me?" Derek breathed out against his mouth, sliding his hands down to squeeze Stiles' ass. Stiles moaned at the feeling, nearly screaming with pleasure when Derek pulled, spreading him open at the exact moment that he ground down against the head of Derek's dick, and it pressed against his entrance for a moment before sliding passed. He had to bite down on Derek's chin, because it was that exact moment that he also remembered that there were three small children in the house and was most definitely being way too loud.

"I did, I knew if I didn't I wouldn't be able to focus, all I'd be thinking about was you and how hot you are. I had to buy a bigger dildo, Derek; I couldn't handle it, I couldn't cum without it, without pretending it was you fucking me." Stiles said, whispering. He licked at Derek's mouth, his tongue scraping against Derek's stubble in a way that should have been uncomfortable, but only made him even hornier. He was just glad they'd both finally shaved.

"Jesus christ, Stiles. You're already open for me, aren't you? I bet you're even wet inside." Derek said, and Stiles could only moan, still trying in vain to grind his way into Derek's cock.

"Yes, yes god I'm ready for you, just do it already, fucking god." Stiles whined. Derek didn't even give any warning before he lifted his hips, shifted Stiles backwards, and slid his cock into him. Stiles nearly bit his tongue off trying not to scream as Derek slid fully in, in one swift thrust. Stiles was seated on his cock, and Derek was pressed into just the right spot, sending pleasure coursing through his entire body.

"Jesus, Stiles. I don't believable you, you're so fucking tight. But god, you are wet. You were lying on my couch, wet and open, and I had no idea. Fuck Stiles, you are too much." Derek said, biting into Stiles' shoulder a bit too roughly. Stiles moved to sit up, but Derek growled, clenching his teeth tighter around Stiles' shoulder.

"I can't move if you don't let me up, Derek. Fuck, it's too much, I need to move. I need to ride you, god, Derek, let me go, I need to fuck you." Stiles whined, but Derek kept his teeth locked around Stiles' flesh, lapping at the skin between his teeth. Stiles settled for rocking against Derek, twisting his hips, trying to create friction, or at least encourage Derek to thrust. They were pressed tightly together, Derek's ass and hips tensed so no matter how Stiles moved, he didn't slip out, or further in, he just stayed there, grinding against Stiles from the inside. It felt amazing, but it wasn't enough, it wasn't enough to make Stiles' cum like he needed to.

Finally, after what felt to Stiles' like hours of torture, Derek let go. Stiles' shoulder throbbed when Derek slid his teeth away, but it felt good, so he didn't care. Stiles wasted no time getting up, settling himself back on Derek's thighs, and pulling up, nearly all of the way off. He paused there, with just the tip of Derek's cock in him, and looked down at Derek's face. He was beautiful, his mouth slack, swollen and wet with spit. His eyes were dark with lust, pupils seeming to blow out further when Stiles locked eyes with him.

"I love you." Stiles whispered, before slamming himself back down onto Derek. They both moaned, and Derek's hands shot out to clench onto Stiles' thighs, like he wanted to hold him there. Stiles had definitely had enough of that though, so he slid back up before Derek could try and trap them together again.

"Stiles, fucking _Stiles_, I love you too." Derek whimpered out, turning his head to the side, his teeth gnashing at the pillow as Stiles rode him. Stiles' thighs were shaking under Derek's fingers; his movements had almost no rhythm to them. He just moved, sliding Derek's cock in and out of himself jerkily. It felt better than he remembered, better than anything he'd ever felt. Derek fit in him like he was made to be there. His hips pressed against the inner curves of Stiles' thighs, and his hands curled around Stile's legs perfectly. They seemed to lock together with every movement, and Stiles had to pry them apart to move up. Stiles' didn't think anything would ever feel this good.

Then Derek proved him wrong but snapping his hips up just as Stiles started to sink back down, thrusting hard against him, skin slapping together noisily Stiles swore, though it came out garbled as he lost all possible train of thought. All that was left in his brain was the feeling of Derek fucking up into him as he rode him, of Derek's cock stretching him open, slamming into him, Derek felt so good, so fucking perfect inside him.

"Stiles, I'm going to cum." Derek whispered, and Stiles just whined, throwing his head back as Derek's cockhead seemed to find the perfect spot inside him every time, making his cock feel thick and heavy, painfully hard as it slapped against his stomach. Stiles felt it before Derek even came, felt his cock pulse inside of him, just as Derek's hand slid over and wrapped around Stiles' cock. That was all it took, and Stiles was coming. Derek came at the same time, spilling into him and Stiles came between them, coating both their stomachs and Derek's hand. He seemed to cum forever, grinding down against Derek as he did, sending bursts of pleasure through himself that were almost too much.

Derek had to grab his hips roughly to make him stop, pulling out even as Stiles' was whimpering, trying to get more friction, more pleasure. His cock had gone soft, but his body was tingling. He collapsed on top of Derek, squirming a little, spreading his cum between them. It should have been gross, but it just felt good. Derek grunted, throwing a hand around Stiles' back.

"Stay still, jesus." Derek grumbled, and Stiles finally did, letting himself relax into Derek.

"That was incredible." he said, though his voice sounded funny, due to his cheek pressing against Derek's rock hard chest.

"It really was." Derek said, kissing the top of Stiles' head softly. "Now go to sleep, you've exhausted me."

"It's cold." Stiles whined. Derek growled quietly, but he shifted them around until he could get the comforter up around them, and then he pulled Stiles back against his chest. Stiles had never felt so safe and warm in his entire life. He could definitely get used to falling asleep with Derek. In fact, he was already in love with the feeling.

Chapter 21: Shawty fire burning

They were startled awake by Erica and Isaac pounding their fists against the door. Derek shot upwards, which sent Stiles tumbling off the edge of the bed. He heard Stiles hit his head on something and grumble, but the man just stayed there on the floor. Derek located some clothes quickly, threw the blanket on Stiles, and then nearly ripped the doorknob off when he threw the door open. Isaac was mid knock, and his fist collided with Derek's hip.

"What the hell are you two doing? Do you know what time it is?" Derek barked.

"It's nearly _eleven_, dad." Erica said, looking at the lump that was Stiles suspiciously.

"And there is someone at the door. They've been knocking for like ten minutes." Isaac said, looking at Derek's shirt with the same expression Erica had.

"Fine, fine. Move,." he said, waving them away. He closed his bedroom door firmly behind him, and he heard Stiles grumble on the other side, followed by a thump that sounded suspiciously like Stiles hitting his head again. He jogged down the stairs, hoping it was just a really enthusiastic Jehovah witness, because the dried cum on his stomach was really starting to be uncomfortable and he really wanted a shower. A long shower, possibly with Stiles in there with him.

"The _hell_ you keep knocking for?" Derek asked, his voice still sounding a bit sleepy, as he pulled the door open. He let out a growl when he saw who was standing there.

"Took you long enough, Hale." Said Lydia, smirking at him.

"I'm going to kill you." he said, but he stepped aside to let her in anyway. Stiles came charging down the stairs just as she was throwing herself down on the couch.

"Oh god, are you sober?" he asked, in a tone that one would usually use to ask someone if they were planning to blow up a country.

"Yes, I am. So shut up and listen." she said, gesturing for them to sit down, not continuing until they did. "My parents gave me the boat house as a gift, and I'm inviting you and the little ones to come spend spring break with me on it." she said, rubbing her temples like she had a headache. Derek finally noticed her state of dress. She was in flats, with messy hair and no makeup, and a sweatshirt that looked two sizes too big. She should have looked adorable, but the way she was scowling at everything killed that.

"A boat house! Dude, fuck yes." Stiles said, flopping his head into Lydia's lap and holding out his fist for her to bump. She ignored him, which didn't surprise anybody in the room.

"It's already fully stocked, and to be honest, it's bigger than mine and Stiles' apartments combined. Though, your house is ridiculously large, Hale. How many rooms is this again? she asked, looking up at the ceiling like she could see through it.

"Six, including a master suite." Derek said, scrunching up his nose a little. Scott had wanted a large house, because he'd wanted their family to keep growing. Now they had an empty room that made Derek feel a bit heartbroken when he thought of it.

"Lovely. The house I grew up in could have fit about ten of these places, of course. I've just gotten used to smaller spaces." she said, letting her head fall back against the couch.

"Lydia, would you like some wine?" Derek asked, unable to hold back a smile. Now that he face was relaxed, she really was adorable.

"I can't beleive I'm saying this, but no. Beleive it or not, my brain works even quicker and sharper when I'm sober. It can be annoying, but I need it today." she said.

"Why's that?" Stiles asked, finally dropping his fist, gracefully hitting himself in the face with it.

"Because, my dear Stiles, I will be our captain on this voyage." she said, beaming down at him.

"Fuck this." Derek mumbled.

xx

Lydia's boat house was exactly what she said it was. Derek had muttered something about it being a yacht, but Stiles had just elbowed him in the side and ran around the deck happily. They'd only been here for a day, and it seemed like Derek was going out of his way to make the experience and un-enjoyable as possible.

"Oh my god." Stiles whined. "Would you stop with the eyebrows? They're gonna get stuck together. They're practically touching as it is." he said, poking Derek between his incredibly furrowed eyebrows.

"Stop it." Derek growled, slapping Stiles' hand away.

"We are on a boat house –stop grumbling, yacht sounds stupid and I will not say it- and we're together, and it is spring break! How many people do you think would kill to be right here for spring break?" Stiles said, gesturing to the room. They were in the bar, which was a full bar, which didn't surprise Stiles in the slightest. It was partially exposed to the deck, and the breeze was flowing in through the open windows and making the potted plants flutter around them.

"Stuck in the middle of god knows where with no escape?" Derek grumbled.

"No!" Stiles said, gesturing to the boat again. They had docked somwhere, and Stiles saw Derek look to his right, out the window at the other boats tied up nearby. "Okay it'd be better if we actually _went_ somewhere today, but Lydia says no. Come on, I have three days left until I have to go back to work! Spring break will be over and I'll be stuck in a classroom again. Like I said, you know how many people would kill to be here?" He whispered, smiling down at Derek.

"If you mean, laying on top of Derek in nothing but shorts? I can think of a few." Lydia said, as she stepped into the room, smirking.

"Hey, no ogling my man, Martin." Stiles said, splaying his hands across Derek's chest, hiding his nipples from her view.

"Oh please." She said, making a dismissing gesture in their direction.

"What are you doing, you're supposed to be watching the kids so-" Derek started.

"So you can defile Stiles in peace, yeah, yeah. They're safely off the deck, Hale, I'm not going to let them drown, calm yourself. I'm just in here to make myself a drink. And you two do know I provided you with a perfectly good cabin to screw in?" She said, wrinkling her nose.

"We didn't screw up here; we just made out a little. Besides, we already did it in our cabin. If you don't think we're not doing it in every room of your boat house," Stiles paused momentarily to slap his hand over Derek's mouth before he could utter the word yacht. ",then you are highly mistaken." He said, letting his hand slip from Derek's mouth.

"Have fun screwing on surfaces I've already screwed on, then." Lydia said, and Stiles made a choking sound.

"Ew, why?" he groaned.

"It's my boat house." She said.

"It's a yacht, for fuck sake, what is wrong with you people?" Derek asked, throwing his hands in the air angrily.

xx

Derek knocked on the door to Lydia's cabin at three in the morning, and wasn't surprised when she opened the door looking fresh as a daisy.

"What the hell are you doing, Hale?" she asked, cocking her hip out.

"I need your help. We need to go into town first thing in the morning, before Stiles wakes up." he said, and she raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at him.

"Why exactly?" she asked.

"My grand gesture. He kind of ruined it, and so now I need to remix it, and I'm going to need your help. The biggest obsticle will be Stiles himself." he said, pursing his lips.

"Well then honey, you came to the perfect place. Getting passed Stiles is a skill I perfected when I was eight." she said, and something about her smile made Derek a little wary.

xx

Derek was standing in the dining hall of the yacht, shifting from foot to foot awkwardly. He and Lydia had finished three hours ago, and now he was standing over the tiny table in the hall, staring down at the food he (mostly Lydia) had cooked. He (again Lydia) had spread rose petals in a line from the door to the table, set candles out, put on quiet music (the Casablanca OST) and was now just waiting for Stiles to come home.

There was a similar setup in their cabin, though Derek had done that all himself, not even letting Lydia see. There were more flowers in there, along with unlit candles, a basket of massage oil, and a bottle of champagne. The most important thing was the velvet box that was sitting in the center of the bed in there. Derek just hoped Stiles didn't go to the cabin before meeting Derek here like the note had said, and go in there and see it before he could explain. That could happen, and that might be bad. As a matter of fact, Derek should go pick that up and put it in his jacket. Derek turned away from the table to head towards the door, and then it door clicked open, and he froze.

"What the fuck?" Stiles whispered, looking down at the petals under his feet as he stepped into the room. When he looked up and saw Derek, his eyes went wide. "Uh, hi babe." He said.

"Hi." Derek said, smoothing out the front of his shirt absentmindedly. He was wearing Stiles' favourite shirt, though he assumed it was only his favourite because it was a size to small. It stretched across his body like paint, the buttons hanging on for dear life to stay closed across his chest.

"What is this?" Stiles asked, kicking the door shut behind him.

"A grand gesture." Derek said, tucking his hands in his pockets (which took effort, since he was also wearing Stiles' favourite pants).

"Derek, this is beautiful" Stiles asked, brushing passed Derek to get a look at the table.

"Yeah well, so are you." Derek said, and Stiles raised an eyebrow at him. "Just, do you want to eat? I made your favourites."

"You mean Lydia made my favourites, and you got to hold the spoon." He said, smiling crookedly at Derek.

"How did you know?" He asked, his shoulders sagging. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from pouting; he really had hoped Stiles wouldn't notice.

"I've had Thanksgiving with Lydia for years, I'd know her rosemary potatoes anywhere." He said, plopping down in his chair and sniffing at said potatoes.

"Yeah well, she didn't give me much of a choice. I let her have her way with the kitchen while I set up the cabin." Derek said, taking a seat across from Stiles.

"Cabin?" Stiles asked, fidgeting with the edge of the tablecloth Derek had been forced to buy.

"You'll see later. Right now just eat, and listen." Derek said, and Stiles sighed.

"Listen to what?" Stiles asked, piling his plate with food.

"There are some things you need to know about me, to understand. I told you I'm not good at loving, and I want you to understand why." he said, watching Stiles.

"This is going to be sad and depressing isn't it?" Stiles asked, and Derek just nodded. Derek needed a few moments to compose himself, and Stiles gave them to him, eating in silence while Derek gathered his thought.

"When I was seventeen years old," Derek started, speaking slowly. "I came home from school to see my house engulfed in flames. Nobody had called me, nobody knew how to, not back then. We lived on the outskirts of town, so I hadn't heard the sirens from where I had been. The trucks were there though, trying to put out the fire. They tried so hard, but it didn't matter. I saw firemen rushing into the house, and I tried to follow them. They held me back though. I screamed, screamed for them to let me go, to let me in. No matter how hard I screamed though, it didn't drown out the screams coming from inside."

"Jesus." Stiles said, and he tried to speak, but Derek pushed the plate of beef broccoli to him, telling him without words to eat and shut up.

"There were ten people in the house; my mother and father, my twin sister Laura, my uncle Peter and his wife, along with their two children, my grandparents, and my great uncle. My youngest cousin, Sadie, was six years old, and she was who I wanted to go in and save. She wasn't old enough to get out herself. I could hear her inside, screaming. She was screaming for my uncle Peter. I could hear her, and my sister, but that was it. They were the only two screaming. By that point, they were probably the only two left conscious.

"The only person who made it out was my uncle Peter. He was burned along his entire side, he was barley there. He slipped into a coma before they could even treat his burns. He stayed that way, for two years, before I told them to take him off life support. He wouldn't have wanted it. He was always so full of life, so loud, and witty. He'd have hated being a vegetable, so I pulled the plug, and I killed my last surviving family member." Derek said, scrubbing his hand against his cheeks where tears had started to fall. "That wasn't the worst part though; the worst part of it wasn't losing them it was_ why_ I lost them. Do you know how the fire started? I don't know if it was in my file, or if your father told you." Derek asked, looking up at Stiles.

"I didn't read_ your_ file, Derek. I didn't know any of that." He said, shaking his head. Derek could see he was biting his cheeks, trying to stop from crying along with Derek.

"It was arson, someone started it intentionally. Not just that, though. It was a hate crime. Whoever set it, didn't know I wasn't home. They were going after_ me_. They set my house on fire, because I was gay." Derek said, choking on a sob. He stopped talking, struggling to keep his breathing under control. The last thing he needed right now was to have a panic attack.

"Derek." Stiles whispered, his fork still hovering in the air where he'd paused mid bite.

"It was Scott's fault." Derek whispered. "Scott, he begged me to come out at school, begged and pleaded and _forced_ me out of the closet before I wanted to. I did it because I thought he'd leave me if I didn't. So I came out, went public with Scott after a year of dating, and two weeks later, my family was burned to death because of what I was. I hated him, god I fucking hated him so much Stiles. I couldn't though, because his mother took me in. I told him to leave me alone, to give me space, but in the end I forgave him. He was all I had left, and I did love him, I did. No matter how much I hated him, it didn't erase the feelings. In the end I forgave him, and then I only blamed myself." Derek picked up the napkin he'd set on the table and wiped at his eyes with it.

"Eventually it didn't matter anymore, because I realized I would have come out eventually anyway, and the same thing might have happened. I don't know. All I knew is that I wanted a family, so I made one with Scott. I did love him, Stiles. I was in love with him, deeply, but I'm not anymore. I'm _not_ in love with him. I lost him, he was murdered, and you know, at the back of my mind I always wondered if it was because of what we were, if it was because he was gay. I still don't know, maybe it was. All I know is he was killed and he was gone. It hurt, Stiles, for a long time. It hurt because I was reminded of him every single day, when I looked at our children. God I hated them, I hated them for just being there. I hated Isaac the most, because he loved Scott more than anyone, loved Scott more than he loved me. I felt useless, and worthless. I felt undeserving of my own children's love, Stiles." Derek said, and that seemed to break whatever dam Stiles had put up, because he let out a sob, burying his face in his hands.

"Fuck, this isn't what I'd planned on saying" Derek said, and then his voice broke, and he let out a sob. He'd been able to speak through his tears up until that point. He hid his face in his hands, not even looking up when he heard Stiles' chair scrape against the tile floor. He let Stiles' wrap his arms around him, leaning against him as he pressed a kiss to Derek's ear.

"God, Derek. I'm so sorry, I'm sorry. I love you, god I love you so fucking much, Derek." Stiles put his hand under Derek's chin, forcing him to look up at him.

"I love you, Stiles. You're everything I've ever wanted, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Derek said, and then Stiles surged forward and pressed their lips together. It was barely a kiss, there was too much force behind it, but it felt right.

xx

"Wow." Stiles whispered when Derek let him in the room. He'd moved the iPod dock into the cabin, lighting the candles and double checking everything. The lily petals where in disarray where Derek had been walking back and forth on them, but he didn't feel like fixing them. He'd gotten lily because they were Stiles' favourite flower, and, like in the dining hall, there was a path from the door to the bed, and a handful of them tossed on the bed itself, with a few full lilies mixed in. The petals Lydia bought were rose, much cheaper, and much more common. Derek had spent a fortune on the lily petals, and he'd had them on holdfor a few days, but it was worth it when Stiles saw them.

"This was part of the plan, the big gesture? I was going to set this up, and then I was going to take you up to the Hollywood Bowl Overlook, and tell you, well, basically what I told you that night in my bedroom, along with what I just told you out there. Just, more poetic, I guess. I had a speech planned. Oh, and a band. A string quartet, I'd booked them to meet us at the overlook. They weren't too happy about me canceling." Derek was rambling, which wasn't like him, but Stiles was just smiling at him.

"Is that glitter?" Stiles asked, taking a step closer, wrapping his arms around Derek's waist.

"Ah, yes. I changed the bedding. The glitter is part of the fabric, I thought it fit you." He said, smirking.

"You are amazing, you know that?" Stiles said softly. "You get Lydia to actually _help_ you, and you let her boss you around the kitchen, which I know to be a horrible experience, and then this. With the romance, and my favourite flowers, and the," Stiles paused; eyes widening as he finally noticed the box in the middle of the bed. "and the oh god, oh my god. _What is that_? What the hell is that, Derek, whoa. I know you said you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me but _oh my god_, Derek. We've been together for like a week, well technically two months and a week but oh my god, Derek. _Derek._"

"Stiles, relax. That isn't even a ring box." Derek said, chuckling, bringing his hands up to rest on Stiles' hips.

"Oh, yeah, you're right. Wow, that's way too big to be a ring. Oops." He said, sighing. "So what's in it?" Stiles asked.

Derek just walked Stiles over to the bed, sitting him down on the edge gently. He kneeled between Stiles legs before reaching around him and grabbing the box. He hadn't opened the box in years, but he knew exactly what was inside it. He held it away from himself, facing it towards Stiles, as he opened it. The hinge creaked, and it made Derek flinch. He watched as Stiles lifted the cuff out of the box, turning it over in his hands.

"It was my dad's." Derek said. "It was one of the only things to survive the fire. I had it cleaned, got it a new box. I've never worn it, but I kept it. I never knew why, but now I do. I want you to have it, Stiles." Derek said. The cuff was thick, a little bit heavy if you weren't used to it. It was made of leather and silver, woven together in an intricate knot to form a band. It was Celtic, and his mother had explained it to him once, but he'd forgotten its significance. In the very center of the cuff, there was a silver disk. The disk was braided into the knot, and it could spin, but it never fell out. That had amazing Derek as a child. He watched as Stiles ran his fingers across the engraving on the disk, his mouth falling open in wonder.

"It's the same spiral, on your back." He said, looking up at Derek, their eyes meeting for the first time that night, sending chills up Derek's neck.

"A triskele." Derek said, smiling.

"Are you sure you want me to have this, Derek?" Stiles asked, spinning the little disk gently.

"I'm positive. My mother gave it to my father on their first Valentine's together. Since I ruined out first Valentine's by being a dick, I wanted to fix it. I should have given it to you then, I shouldn't have been so scared to let myself be with you." He said, and Stiles let out a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sob, but he was smiling down at Derek.

"Put it on for me?" Stiles asked, holding it out to him. Derek took it in his hands gently, running his fingers across the knot. The leather was a bit worn in spots, smudged black from the smoke of the fire in others. His father had been a much bigger man than Stiles, so the cuff fit a bit loose around his wrist. Even after Derek buckled it, on the last hole, it slid down his wrist a little.

"I love you, Derek Hale." Stiles whispered.

"I love you, Glitter Stilinski." Derek said, and then they both laughed.

Chapter 22: No kisses for whiskey mouths

Spring break was over, and Derek had to nearly force his children into their school clothes on Monday morning. He hadn't seen Stiles since they the yacht yesterday morning. He'd given Derek a long, hot kiss and slapped his ass on the way to his jeep.

"Daddy, is Mr. Stilinski still gonna be sad in school?" Boyd asked, kicking the dashboard as Derek drove. Derek put a hand on his knee to make him stop before he answered.

"I don't know." He said, doing his best not to grit his teeth as he spoke.

"I hope he's all better now that you're boyfriends again." He said, beaming at Derek. Derek smiled back, hoping the same thing.

"You guys gonna get married?" Erica cooed, leaning forward to stick her chin over the top of Derek's seat.

"Even thinking about that is a long way off, Bug." Derek said, flicking her gently in the forhead.

When they got to the school, Kate Argent was standing on the corner, and Derek narrowed his eyes at her. She waved him over, and he pulled up in front of her. The kids piled out, and Kate took the seat Boyd had just occupied.

"Kate, what can I do for you?"

"Have you ever met my boyfriend, John?" she asked, reaching out and pushing a button on the radio before Derek could stop her. The music changed to a classic rock station, but it was one Derek had preset, so he didn't protest.

"You have a boyfriend?" he asked instead.

"Sure do." she said.

"How long have you two been together?" Derek asked.

"Two years." Kate said, smirking.

"So all those times you asked me out, you were with him?" Derek asked, giving her a look that clearly showed his disapproval.

"I was just having some fun. I knew you were gay, and it was fun to watch you squirm." she said.

"You knew I was gay, how?" he asked, looking up at the ceiling of the car, wishing he hadn't let her in.

"Isaac wrote about Scott. I asked the kids to write about their parents. Erica's project only mentioned you." she said, shrugging. Derek just nodded. "Anyway, John is Dean's dad, Dean Winchester? He's sort of like a son to me, and he _won't_ shut up about your daughter. He wanted me to ask if she could come over. Of course all your kids would be welcome, as long as Boyd promises not to punch Allison again." she said, fixing him with a cold look that sent shivers up his spine. He hadn't thought it possible, but Kate was more terrifying than even Lydia.

"You want me to bring all of my kids to your house?" Derek asked.

"Yes, and yourself. Stiles is welcome too, of course." she said with a knowing smirk, and Derek was officially scared of her.

"You know about me and Stiles?" he asked.

"He has a picture of the two of you on his desk, Derek. The one where he's sleeping on your shoulder, and you're just scowling. Kind of like you're scowling right now, in fact." she said, and then she was reaching into the center consaul and grabbing his phone. He watched helplessly as she programmed her number in before throwing it back down. "Call me, let me know. Anything to get the kids to stop making eyes at each other when I'm trying to teach." she said, and then she was out of the car. Derek was suddenly acutley aware that all the women in his life were terrifyingly overbearing.

xx

"This is stupid." Derek mumbled, sinking further into his seat.

"He wants to meet you officially, as my boyfriend, you know, not as a murder suspect. Now fix your tie." Stiles said, turning the corner a bit too fast, making Derek's smack his head against the window.

"My tie is fine." Derek said, glaring at Stiles, who was just smirking. The sheriff had invited them to dinner, and Derek had said no, he wasn't a child, but Stiles had _tricked_ him. He had told them they were going to meet Lydia for drinks at some exclusive club, but then they drove in the opposite direction and Derek knew he'd been deceived. Derek should have suspected something when Stiles insisted they take his car.

"He's going to love you." Stiles said softly.

"I don't care, Stiles. And I don't see why we can't meet somewhere, why do we have to go to his_ house_?" Derek said, tapping his foot impatiently against the floor of the jeep.

"It's important to me that you guys get along, that he likes you. I plan on you being _kind of_ permanent, and he already is, so just, please, don't act like I dragged you out by your eyebrows, for me?" Stiles asked, reaching his hand out to rest on Derek's thigh, soothing him so he stopped bouncing his leg.

"Fine, I'll be good,." Derek grumbled.

"Good. Good boys get rewarded, naughty boys get punished." Stiles said. Derek felt a sense of déjà vu, as Stiles slid his hand on Derek's thigh, smirking as he dug his fingers into his inseam.

"Well that's not much incentive for me to be good, now is it?" Derek purred, reaching out to grab the back of Stiles' neck, squeezing gently.

"How about, if you're good, I'll do whatever you want tonight?" Stiles offered, his hand sliding back down, encircling Derek's knee.

"Okay." Derek said softly, resting his hand atop Stiles'.

xx

"So, Derek, what do you do for a living?"

"You know what I do." Derek said through gritted teeth, the sheriff raised an eyebrow.

"Refresh my memory." He said, taking a sip of his whiskey.

"I'm a veterinarian." Derek said, stabbing the food on his plate with a little more force than necessary.

"You must like animals then?" The sheriff asked, and Derek nodded. "Stiles loves them, don't you son?" He asked, smiling at Stiles, who just looked uncomfortable.

"Uh, yeah. I saw Derek at the zoo once." He said. Stiles had been running his foot along Derek's calf comfortingly all throughout dinner, but Derek was still being, well, Derek.

"That's interesting. You like sports, Derek?" The sheriff asked, pouring himself another drink. Derek noted that Stiles' eyed his dad worryingly, and he wondered if Lydia was the only alcoholic in his life or not.

"Baseball." He said.

"You're uptight, you know that?" The sheriff asked, and Derek saw Stiles flinch.

"I prefer guarded." Derek said. The dining room went silent for a few moments, and then Stiles giggled. He tried to cover it up, but Derek caught it. He tried not to smile, but he did.

"Quite the opposite of Stiles, then." The sheriff said, and for the first time that night, he had a smile on his face.

"Oh, definitely." Derek said.

"Stiles, would you mind clearing the table?" The sheriff said suddenly. Stiles' eyes went wide, and he looked around at the half finished plates on the table.

"Dad, I-" Stiles started.

"Go." The sheriff said, and Stiles stood quickly, gathering up the plates and carrying them into the kitchen. Derek watched him go; really wishing they'd done this in a restaurant.

"So?" Derek asked, turning his chair to face the sheriff directly.

"My son has been through a lot. I know you have too, but where you went and commited assault and petty vandalism to get your crap out, Stiles holds it in." The sheriff said.

"Stiles doesn't know about that crap, you know. He didn't read my file, so he didn't see all the times I'd been-"

"I figured as much." The sheriff cut him off. "You started and finished more bar fights than the rest of the town combined, but that stopped three years ago. As for destroying the Whittemore's porsche, well, let's just say nobody at the station blamed you too much for that one."

"How come you remember me so well when I don't remember you at all?" Derek asked, reaching out blindly for the bottle of whiskey, pouring a bit of it into his water glass. The sheriff raised an eyebrow, but he said nothing about it.

"I remembered the fire. Stiles was a bit too young, but I obsessed about that god damn case. I wanted to solve it more than any other case to come across my desk." He said. "Though, it was Melissa who fully jogged my memory."

"Mum?" Derek asked, surprised.

"Mellisa and I, well, we enjoy each other's company. She hadn't talked about you in the whole time I knew her on a more than professional level, but it would seem that as of late, you've let her back into your life. I was when she started talking about you that I remembered." the sherriff said.

"What do you remember?" Derek asked, speaking through the side of his mouth, not sure if he wanted the answer.

"I remember you standing in the hospital, with Melissa. You were a teenager, and I remember thinking that the last time I saw a boy look like that, it was my son standing next to his mother's bedside." He said, glancing into the kitchen to make sure Stiles was still occupied. "You know, Mellisa never talks about Scott either. Nobody ever talks about ghosts."

"I'm not a ghost." Derek said.

"Sure you aren't." The sheriff said.

"I never met him though, did I?" Derek asked, nodding in the direction of the kitchen.

"No, Stiles was too wrapped up in some guy, Brian, back then to be aware any other guy even existed. You were graduated by the time he got to high school. I guess it's just one of those things, two people whose pasts are tangled up in each other, but they never met. It's funny." He said.

"I guess so." Derek said, downing the rest of his drink, trying not to cringe at the taste.

"Stiles has been keeping his emotions locked up tight for a while now." The sheriff said. There was the sound of something falling from the kitchen, but they both ignored it.

"He hasn't had an issue with telling me when I hurt him, yet." Derek said.

"As I understand it, you do that a lot. A lot more than any guy he's brought around before, with the exception of one kid who I nearly shot." The sheriff said, nearly spitting the words.

"I told him I would; he wanted to be with me anyway. It was his choice."

"Let's hope it's the last one he has to make about men." He said, and then he turned his head away, and Derek knew the conversation was over.

xx

Stiles was giggling, and Derek was fumbling with the doorknob, trying to get it open without breaking his hold on Stiles.

"When the hell did you have time to get drunk?" Derek growled.

"When I was in the kitchen." Stiles said, his head lolling forward and smacking against Derek's shoulder.

"I'm so pissed at you right now, you're lucky you're cute." Derek said, finally getting the door open.

"Why mad?" Stiles mumbled, making an annoyed sound when Derek flopped him onto a couch a little harder than necessary.

"You are clearly way too drunk for me to take you up on your offer." Derek said, shrugging out of his jacket and sitting down next to Stiles.

"Offer? Oh! Oh the sex. No we can do the sex. Let's do the _sex_, Derek." Stiles said, trying to climb into Derek's lap.

"Don't want to, now." Derek said, pushing Stiles off him.

"But baby." Stiles whined, carrying out the 'y' for a good few seconds.

"Nope, not while you're drunk. Why the hell did you even get drunk, you ass?" Derek grumbled, throwing his arm around Stiles' shoulders, positioning him so that the man's head was resting on Derek's chest.

"I was nervous. Want dad to like you. Don't want him to shoot you, shooting is bad. I _don't_ like shooting. I like you though, like you a lot." Stiles said, turning his head to bite Derek's chest.

"Hey, stop that." Derek said, pushing at Stiles' face.

"Don't wanna, wanna bite you all up." Stiles said, leaning up to bite Derek's shoulder. Derek just let him. "You taste like shirt." Stiles said, rubbing at his tongue with an angry expression.

"That's because I'm wearing one." Derek said, watching Stiles with amusement.

"Why are you wearing one? Take it off. Lemme see your tattoo, wanna bite it." Stiles said, trying to tug at Derek's shirt, but only succeeding in pawing at his stomach uselessly.

"No. Why do you want to bite me so much tonight?" Derek asked, turning Stiles so his back was pressed to Derek's chest, keeping his teeth pointed the other direction.

"Don't you wanna bite? Don't you?" Stiles said, and then he giggled, before his started singing. "Don't you wish your boyfriend was hot like me, don't you wish your boyfriend could bite like me. Don't you? Do doop do doodoo, don't you?" He sang, before dissolving into laughter.

"I just wish my boyfriend was sober." Derek said, smacking his head against the couch. It was turning out to be a long night.

Chapter 23: Derek the scowling dragon

Derek had forgotten about Kate Argent, until the next week, when Erica found out Dean wanted her to come over, and she literally climbed Derek's legs until he relented and called the woman. She gave him directions, and he just grunted in response before hanging up.

It turned out Kate Argent's house was beyond gaudy. Derek was sure if he stood at one corner and looked out, he wouldn't be able to see the other side. It was set just at the edge of town, surrounded by trees. It was a lot like his childhood home, but where his house had been warm and homey, the Argent home was cold and vast. It seemed to be carved entirely of marble, and it was cold when they stepped in. The entire back wall of the house seemed to be made up of windows, which did nothing but let in a draft that made the place seem almost dead. Derek didn't even feel comfortable looking at the chandelier hanging in the entry hall, which looked suspiciously like real gold.

"The living room, make yourself at home." Kate said, gesturing vaguely towards the room just beyond the stairs.

"This is_ your_ house?" Stiles asked, looking around in awe.

"I inherited it." she said. There was a clatter from upstairs, and the sound of feet slapping against wood could be heard. Derek wondered if the upstairs was as uninviting as the floor level.

"Aunt Kate!" Came a tiny voice, and then Allison Argent stuck her face around the corner, she squeaked and backed up when she saw the six of them standing there.

"Allison!" Boyd cried, and Derek could have sworn he was blushing.

"Hi Allison." Stiles said, smiling brightly at her.

"You came?" she asked. He voice was tiny, and Derek couldn't help it when he thought of her as adorable.

"Come down here and say hello, Brown-eyes." Kate said, opening her arms towards her. Allison came bouncing down the stairs, eyeing Boyd the whole way down. She nearly ran to her aunt's side, clutching to her leg.

"Hi Boyd, hi Mr. Stilinski. Other people." she said quietly, and Stiles chuckled.

"This is Boyd's dad, Derek, and these are his siblings, Erica and Isaac. They're in your aunt's class." he said, gesturing to everyone as he spoke. Allison's eyes went to Stiles' other hand though, the one that was holding Derek's tightly.

"Is Boyd's papa your girlfriend?" she asked, and all three of the kids tensed, looking up at Derek like they expected him to burst into tears. Which, to be fair, was a good expectation at this point.

"He's my boyfriend, silly. A boy can't be a girlfriend, now can he?" he asked, after Kate nodded to him, telling him it was okay to explain to her. "And you shouldn't call him papa, okay? Just call him Boyd's dad, okay honey?" he asked, and she just nodded.

"So are you the girlfriend?" she asked, and Derek aughed until Stiles glared at him.

"No, we're both boys, we're both boyfriends." he said.

"That sounds funny." she said, but she just smiled up at him.

"Right, well, Kate, where exactly is Dean" Derek asked, and he was relieved when Kate ushered them towards the living room.

"John and the boys are down in the play room."

Kate opened a door that led to an opening, which led to another curving stair case, though this one was at least normal sized. The basement had been converted into multiple rooms, each one vast, and Derek had to force his mouth closed to keep his jaw from dropping. There was a dollhouse that took up at least ten square feet of the room, and it looked well loved. It took Derek a moment to realize it was a replica of the house, and he let out a whistle.

"This is just reidiculous." Derek said, and Stiles slapped him in the arm.

"This is amazing!" Stiles exclaimed, running off with the kids towards the various toys.

"Derek Hale." came a voice, and then Derek was being clapped on the back. He turned to see a man standing there. He was middle aged, taller than Derek, and just as wide, though not as muscular. He had a beard shot through with grey, and he reminded Derek of the bikers he used to see in the bars around town. Derek was vaguely sure he'd seen the man at school.

"You must be John." he said, smiling softly.

"Sure am. You know, our kids are in love." He said gruffly, smiling at Derek, with teeth.

"Are they now?" Derek said chuckling

"Dean says Erica is gonna be his girlfriend forever." he said, laughing loudly.

"I said the same thing about Fabio when I was his age." Derek said, and Kate snorted.

"Fabio, really?" she asked.

"Have you seen that man's hair?" he asked, fixing her with a deathly serious look. "It is fourteen karat gold, my lady." he said, and Kate just rolled her eyes. Derek smiled, watching John smother his smirk in his hand out of the corner of his eye, before turning his attention back to the kids.

The girls were hanging out of what appeared to be a life size princess castle. There were on the second floor of it, and Derek wanted to just curl up into a ball of shame. Dean began sword fighting with Isaac, and Boyd and Dean's brother were sitting a few feet away, each cheering for their brother. The other side of the room was dedicated to table games. Pool, table tennis, air hockey, etc. There was large, overstuffed couches scattered around, as well as beanbags. There was an entertainment center that Derek didn't even want to look at for fear that he might loose whatever ego he had left. The play room was open to the stairway and it took up most of the space. It was also quite amazing. It was more than just for kids, though the kids did seem to be enjoying themselves where they were in the corner.

Stiles was sitting on one of the beanbags, shouting encouragement to the kids as they played. Derek went over to him, scooting him down so he could sit behind him. When Derek was sat, Stiles rested his elbows on Derek's knees, still engrossed in watching the kids. Kate threw herself on the couch behind them, pulling John down with her and laughing loudly when Dean won the sword fight, and declared the castle and princesses for himself.

"Go ahead, you can have princess fart breath." he said, sticking his tongue out at Erica, who threw something at him. It bounced off his head and he sputtered, and then everyone laughed.

"Dad! Dad come play with us!" Erica yelled, making grabby hands towards Derek.

"No, no sweetie." Derek said, smiling gently.

"Come on." she whined, and there was the patented Erica pout.

"Yeah, come on, play with them." Stiles said, reaching back to poke Derek in the sides. He wasn't the slightest bit ticklish, and Stiles frowned when he got no reaction.

"I don't play." Derek said, slapping Stiles' hands away.

"Play! Play!" Stiles chanted, and one by one the kids joined in. Derek put up a good fight until Kate joined in, and then he groaned, standing from his spot and stepping onto the play mat. There was a round of cheering, and a wolf whistle from Kate.

"Fine, what do you want?" Derek asked, crossing his arms. His face was the same level as the window to the castle that the girls were hanging out of.

"You can be the dragon!" Allison said, and Erica nodded.

"The dragon?" he asked, unamused.

"Yeah, our pet dragon!" Erica said, and Allison squealed happily, clapping her hands.

"Who has a pet dragon? That's dumb." Dean's brother said, and Derek nodded in agreement.

"Shut up Sam!" Allison said, blushing.

"He should be a werewolf!" Dean shouted.

"A werewolf?" Derek groaned.

"Yeah! The werewolf who guards the castle!" Erica said.

"He's certainly hairy enough." Kate said, and Derek glared at her.

"Daddy, howl." Boyd said, and all the kids giggled.

"Yeah, howl!" Isaac said, jumping up and down.

"Dear god." he muttered under his breath.

"Howl for us, sour-wolfman!" Stiles called, laughing at Derek's misfortune. Derek growled, and the kids giggled happily. He wanted to slap himself in the face, realizing he'd only fueled the fire by doing that.

"Fine." he said, and he sucked in a breath. He had never told his kids, but back when he was in high school, and he'd gone to all of Scott's lacrosse games, he was something of an expert cheerer. It just so happened that the school had a mascot who howled, and it just so happened that Derek had once howled so realistically during a game that he'd scared half the crowd. In an open field, it had been one thing, but when he let out a howl in the basement, it seemed to echo off the concrete walls. It was loud, bouncing around the room and giving off the illusion that there were multiple howls happening at once. He let it drag out, only stopping when he was out of breath. When he stopped, everyone was staring at him slack jawed. He looked at Stiles, and saw something akin to arousal flicker across his face before he started clapping.

"Wow." Kate said, and just as Derek was worried that he was going to be coerced into more wolfie activities, there was a voice from upstairs, and Allison squealed happily. Just as she was stumbling out of the princess castle, a man came through the door, and Allison ran to him.

"Daddy!" she shouted, and the man lifted her over his head, kissing her on her cheeks noisly.

"Well, I see we have company." he said, smiling in Derek's direction. He had a smile that was literally perfect, and therefore utterly unnerving.

"Chris, you know Alllison's teacher, Stiles, this is his partner Derek and their children, Erica, Isaac, and Boyd. Everyone, this is my brother Chris." she said, gesturing to everyone in turn "Erica is Dean's girflriend." she added in a hushed tone. Dean turned red and stumbled over his words, and Erica just pursed her lips in Chris' direction, as if daring him to comment.

"Oh is she now? Well she's certainly pretty enough for our family, isn't she?" he said, making Erica giggle. His eyes were piercing in a way that almost made it seem like he was always smiling, even when he mouth was doing something else. He was also freakishly attractive, in a way that Derek couldn't explain if he tried.

"I'd say she'd fit in perfectly with the women here." Derek said, smiling softly at his daughter.

"Uh oh, sounds like Dean's gonna have his hands full." Chris said.

"He'd better not." Derek said, scowling. Kate and Chris both chuckled.

"I'm starting to like you, Derek." Kate said, and Derek wondered why he had to have such good luck with women.

Chapter 24: They're my kids, you know

Boyd was angry. He didn't understand why his daddy had to be such a mean person. He didn't want to come see stupid Dr. Morrell. He wanted to stay at home and play, not get asked stupid questions.

"Boyd, what do you think of Stiles?" Dr. Morrell asked, and Boyd perked up.

"Mr. Stilinski!" he started, but then he remembered that she was stupid and he didn't want to tell her. "None of your business."

"You're dad seems to think you like him a lot. Is that true?" she asked, but Boyd just pursed his lips, ignoring her. "Boyd? The more you ignore me, the longer you have to stay." She said.

"That's dumb." He said. It was, that didn't even make any sense. Why couldn't he just go home and play? He wanted to play with his model Ice Rink; he wanted to make dinosaurs ice skate.

"Maybe, but it's how it works. Just tell me about Mr. Stilinski, and then you can go, okay?" She asked, and Boyd made a face. He whined angrily, kicking his feet against the chair leg.

"He's my favourite." He said, and Dr. Morrell smiled at him. He scowled.

"Why is that?" She asked, and Boyd let out a frustrated groan.

"Just is, can I go home now?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Sure, Boyd. Your dad is out in the waiting room." She said, and Boyd nearly flew out the door, running across the room to throw himself on his dad's lap.

"Daddy, I want ice cream." He said, and yeah! He did, he thought ice cream sounded great.

"Alright, we'll go get some." His dad said, lifting him up onto his hip. Boyd always got dizzy when his dad moved him around like that, but his dad was really big and comfy so he didn't care. He wrapped his arms around his dad's neck and nuzzled his cheek against his shirt.

"How come everyone calls Mr. Stilinski 'Stiles', Daddy?" He asked.

"Stiles is his nickname." His dad said.

"What do you mean?" Boyd asked.

"You know how I call your brother and sister Bug?" His dad asked, and Boyd nodded. "It's like that, it's not his name, but it's what people call him."

"His name is Mr. Stilinski." Boyd said, nodding his head.

"Yes it is." His dad said. His dad started doing down the steps, which was Boyd's favourite thing. He looked down at his dad's feet as he jogged down the stairs. It was always bouncy when he did that, and Boyd liked to watch as the stairs disappeared. It made his eyes go funny, but he didn't care.

"Go back up, do it again,." Boyd said, and his dad laughed before doing as he was told.

xx

Isaac was bored. He was lying upside down on the couch; his head hanging over the edge, watching his dad try to put together his sister's stupid doll house. He didn't know why she needed such a big doll house for their birthday, just because Allison Argent had one. He didn't like Allison anyway; she was always asking him questions, pointing her big dumb puppy eyes at him.

"Dad, what's for dinner?" He asked, rubbing his tummy.

"I don't know, Bug. What do you want?" His dad said, scowling down at the paper in his hand. He smacked the tool in his hand against the side of the doll house a few times. Even Isaac knew that wouldn't work.

"Hamburgers." He said, flipping himself over when he started to feel dizzy from being upside down.

"No." His dad said firmly.

"Why not?" Isaac whined.

"We don't have any meat, I told you that yesterday." He dad said, finally throwing the paper down with a growl, flopping onto his back on the floor. Isaac slid off the couch and climbed over to where he was, sitting on his chest. His dad gave him a dirty look, but Isaac just poked him in the cheek.

"Why didn't you go buy some?"He asked, frowning down as his dad.

"I didn't feel like it."

"Can we go to McDonald's?" hHe asked, grabbing his dad's face between his hands, squishing it. He always looked funny when Isaac did that, like an angry fish with a beard. Isaac giggled.

"No we can not go to McDonald's." His dad said, but his voice was all funny from having his face squished, and Isaac giggled even harder.

"I want hamburgers." He sang, and before he knew what was going on he was being lifted into the air. The floor and walls spun around him as his dad stood with him in his arms. He was being lifted above his dad's head, and he was laughing loudly.

"No hamburgers for Bugs." His dad said, and then he was holding Isaac in front of his face, rubbing his nose against his own. Isaac shrieked, batting at his dad's fuzzy face where it was tickling his.

"Dad!" He yelled as his dad started kissing his cheeks. "Stop it, you're so weird." He said. His dad chuckled, dropping Isaac to his feet.

"Yeah, where do you think you get it from?" his dad asked, before he patted Isaac on the head, ruffling his hair.

xx

Erica was excited. She was sitting in the basket of the shopping trolley, reading the cake mix instructions. She got to help her dad make their birthday cake. It wasn't really their birthday, cause dad didn't know when that was, so they celebrated the day they came to live with dad and papa. It was better anyway, because dad was what really mattered. She got to help dad do all the cooking and decorating for their party tomorrow. He told her birthday girls weren't supposed to do that kind of stuff, but she really wanted to.

"Dad, dad, we need to get sprinkles for the cake!" She said, leaning back to look at him. He was holding two different kinds of frosting in his hands, frowning at them.

"There are sprinkles in the mix." He said.

"No, we need them for on top, duh." She said, cause sometimes her dad needed a little extra push in the smarts department.

"What, why?" he asked, looking up from the frostings to raise his eyebrows at her.

"Cause I said so." She said, turning her attention back to the box in her hands. She heard her dad say a grown up word before dropping both tubs of frosting at her feet. One was vanilla and the other was strawberry. She smiled, already planning to use both. A jar of rainbow sprinkles fell into the trolley next, and she giggled happily.

"You want anything special for the party, baby girl?" Her dad asked, and she looked around her. They had crisps, and candies, and all kinds of sweet foods.

"Cheese puffs." She said, and her dad made a grunting sound before pushing the cart off towards the direction of the snack aisle.

"Are you excited about your birthday?" He asked her.

"Yes! I'm gonna be double digits!" She said, turning around to beam at him. He smiled back, showing her his teeth.

"You know, you're gonna be older than Dean." He said, and she frowned.

"So? You're older than Mr. Stilinski." She said.

"Hm, that is true." He said, making a funny face, like he was thinking really hard.

"He's gonna be there, right? To help decorate? You decorate like a boy, he knows what he's doing." She said, and her dad frowned.

"Yes he is, but how do you know if he knows or not?" He asked her.

"Cause I've seen his classroom. It's way nicer than Ms. Argents. Oh! Did I tell you, she's is not gonna be Ms. Argent anymore?" She asked, getting up on her knees to get closer to her dad's face.

"What?" he asked, his eyes going wide.

"She's is gonna be Mrs. Winchester for the kids next year! She's gonna be Dean's mum!" She said, beaming. She was excited about that too. She liked Ms. Argent a lot; she hoped she'd grow up to be as pretty and smart as she was. If she married Dean's dad, and Erica married Dean, they would be related! She hummed happily to herself as she sat back on the bottom of the cart.

"Well, that's good." Her dad mumbled. Then he threw a bag of cheese puffs at her, and she shrieked happily.

Chapter 25: Hey, sexy lady

Derek and Stiles had been together for a month (though Stiles would argue it being three months with a break in between, but Derek stood firm on his position that they weren't dating the first time around) and he'd yet to make progress in the "stop being a caveman" front. Stiles didn't let Derek make mistakes; he tried to force him to fix them. Derek wasn't quite used to what being with Stiles entailed, but he was learning to adapt. He was also learning that, if he slept at Stiles apartment, he would wake up with glitter in his hair.

"Babe, how do you even get glitter in your bed?" Derek mumbled.

"It gets everywhere, I can't help it," Stiles said, peeking his head around the shower curtain to look at Derek where he was scowling at the bathroom mirror.

"You could not use it." Derek said, frowning as he tore Stiles' brush through his hair.

"No way, it makes everything better." Stiles said, smiling at him brightly before he disappeared back around the curtain.

"I don't know why I'm shocked by the fact that you use it at home." Derek mumbled, opening the medicine cabinet to get his toothbrush which, yes, was his. They spent more time at Derek's house than Stiles' apartment, but he still had a few things he liked to keep here; a pair of sweats, a change of socks, his cologne, and a toothbrush. Though he'd noticed that his cologne had been used without him, and he suspected Stiles sprayed it on the bed when he wasn't around, which he secretly thought to be the cutest thing in the entire world.

"I use it in my paintings." Stiles called over the sound of the shower spray.

"I don't know why that surprises me." Derek said, chuckling a little.

"I'm not sure either, you know me pretty well by now." Stiles said, turning off the water and stepping out of the tub. He patted himself with a towel lazily, and Derek watched him in the mirror as he brushed his teeth. It took a few seconds for Stiles to notice he was being watched, but when he finally took notice, he smirked at Derek.

"Don't look at me like that; if we're late it's my head she will bite off, not yours." He said, spitting into the sink and scowling.

"Why would we be late from me looking at you?" Stiles asked innocently, stepping up to wrap his hands around Derek's hips, squeezing gently.

"Hey, hey paws off." Derek said, swatting at Stiles' hands. He stomped out of the bathroom with a frown on his face.

"Sourpuss!" Stiles called after him. He just really didn't want to be late.

xx

They were late. It was entirely Stiles fault, because he attacked Derek before he could get his jeans buttoned up. It didn't take too much persuading once Stiles had his hands down Derek's boxers, and they ended up wasting more than half an hour with Derek pinned against the wall and Stiles getting a lovely case of rug burn on his knees.

"You're late, boys." Kate said coldly, tapping her foot impatiently against the tiled floor. She ruined it by smirking at them knowingly.

"Yep, where are my kids?" he asked, brushing passed her, walking further into the restaurant. He heard her mutter something behind him, heard Stiles laugh at something, but he tuned them out. He spotted his kids in a booth, sitting with John and his own kids. He was a little surprised to see Allison there, but he didn't say anything. He felt his face crack open into a smile, beaming at Erica when she spotted him.

"Dad!" she shouted, climbing out of the booth and running across the restaurant floor to him.

"Hey there Bug." He said, chuckling as she launched herself into his arms, jumping off the floor so he was forced to pick her up. She was going to be too big for him to carry comfortably soon, but for now he just swung her onto his hip, trying not to frown as her heel dug into his stomach painfully.

"We had so much fun, Dad. We went shopping, Kate bought me stuff. Kate's better at picking out stuff than aunt Lydia." She said, before kissing him noisily on the cheek. Derek turned to glare at Kate. He'd specifically told her not to buy them anything.

Boyd had wanted to spend time with Sam, which had been a huge shock to Derek, but it made him ridiculously happy that his son had a friend, so he jumped at the chance. Erica insisted on going too so that she could see Dean, and Isaac just went wherever his sister went, so Kate and John picked all the kids up form Melissa's that morning. Derek had three rules, no sugar, no presents, and no amusement parks. From the way Isaac was bouncing in his seat, Derek knew for sure at least two of those rules had been broken, and it was barley noon.

"Where is aunt Lydia, wasn't she supposed to be with you?" Derek asked, pinching Erica's nose gently.

"She had a date." she whispered, and Derek just raised his eyebrows.

He slid into the booth next to Isaac, pushing at his son with his hip so he'd make room. He tried to get Erica to sit on his lap, but she just climbed over him so she could squeeze herself next to Dean. Kate slid in next to Erica, and his daughter beamed at the woman. Derek frowned, the terrifying idea that Erica would grow up to be like Kate returning. Stiles pulled him out of his thoughts by stuffing himself into the spot he'd tried to put Erica in, throwing his legs over Derek's lap, nearly kicking Isaac in the chest. Derek had to wrap his arm around Stiles back to keep him from falling to the floor. Kate laughed.

"That is so not going to work." Derek said huffing out a breath as Stiles kneed him in the chest.

"We'll make it work." Stiles said, squirming. Isaac was leaning away, eyeing Stiles legs like they were snakes.

"No, we won't. Sit like a human being." Derek said, scowling. He pushed at Stiles legs, and the man frowned.

"I want to sit like this." Stiles said, glancing over at John and Kate with a tint to his cheeks.

"Genim." Derek snapped, and Stiles finally slid his legs off Derek.

"Jerk." Stiles muttered under his breath, and Derek caught Kate trying to hide a smile with his hand.

"Your name is Genim?" she asked, her eyes glinting.

"Oh God damn it." Stiles said, letting his head drop onto the table.

"Oh that is the greatest thing I have ever heard." She said, laughing loudly.

"Is it now?" Derek asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"You don't see it? Think about it. Come on, Genim Stiles. Derek, Genim Stiles." She said, smirking at Derek like he was an idiot.

"Genim Stiles?" Derek said out loud, trying to see why it was so funny.

"Stop saying my name please. I don't even see what the big deal is." Stiles whined, his face still resting against the table.

"Gangnam Style," John muttered, looking like he was trying really hard not to smile. As soon as it was out of his mouth Kate laughed even harder, and Stiles let out a cry.

"No, no. No please god no. Do not start signing my name or I will never speak to any of you ever again." Stiles said. "And for the love of everything holy do not mention this to Lydia." He said to Derek out of the corner of his mouth.

"I don't even get it, so whatever." Derek said. Everyone gaped at him, with the exception of his own children.

"You don't know that song? How do you not know that song?" Stiles asked, lifting his head from the table to glare into Derek's eyes.

"Even I know the damn song. Wish to hell I didn't, though." John said, and Kate smiled at him.

"Should I be glad I don't?" Derek asked, and John started to nod, but then Kate wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him to her.

"Oh, as if you'd be so lucky." Kate said, and her smile made Derek nervous.

"Don't torture the man." came a voice from Derek's left, and he turned to see his saviour.

"Where the hell have you been lady?" Stiles asked, getting out of his seat to give Lydia a hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."

"You're no longer the only one with boyfriends." she said, gesturing to Stiles and Kate.

"I actually have a fiance." Kate said smirking, but Lydia just waved her hand at her, before sitting down next to Derek.

"So what do you have on him?" Derek asked, eyeing the waitress as she brought over plates that the others had already ordered.

"Hm?" Lydia hummed, looking at the paper menu with distaste.

"Well obviously you blackmailed him. with something." Derek said, and then Lydia hit him with a spoon, while the waitress looked like she wanted to run.

xx

"We should do this more often." Kate said, leaning against the side of Derek's car while he piled the shopping bags in the trunk.

"What, have you spoil my kids?" he asked cooly.

"You don't have many friends, do you, Derek?" Kate asked, smiling at him. Derek turned around and looked at Lydia and Stiles. They were over by John's truck, Stiles laughing as he lifted Boyd up into the bed of the truck, where Dean and Isaac were already stomping around.

"I don't have any. Just family." he said, turning back to Kate, slamming the trunk lid heavily.

"Lydia is family?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." Derek said firmly, and Kate sighed.

"You need to get out. Be with people your own age, not twenty year olds and children all day every day." Kate said.

"My own age huh. Guess that rules you out. You are twenty years older than me." he said, trying unsuccesfully to hide a smile.

"Seventeen years, asshole. And you know what I mean." she said. Derek was about to say he actually had no idea when the kids came running up, Boyd tugging Stiles along by his hand.

"Dad, dad, can we go with John and Mr. Argent to see monster trucks?" Isaac asked, leaping up and grabbing onto Derek's arm.

"My daddy." Allison said, like she was clarifying. She walked slightly behind John's leg, clutching his pant leg, but as soon as they reached Derek's car, she ran to her aunt. She didn;t hide behind her though, just stood close.

"I remember him." Derek said, smiling at the girl.

"He's the bestest daddy ever." she said, beaming up at Derek.

"I bet he is, sweetheart." he said, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. When he straightened back up Stiles and Lydia were giving him an odd look. "What, she's adorable." he said, shrugging. Allison giggled, and Boyd made an embarrassed noise in the back of his throat.

"You can kiss her too Boyd, if she lets you." Kate said, smirking. Boyd's eyes somehow bugged even further out of his head, and he stuttered. Allison giggled again.

"You have to ask her though, dumby." Erica said, and Boyd's face scrunched up.

"You're never gonna get a girlfriend." Isaac said, and then Boyd surged forward, and kissed Allison on the cheek. She blushed, and Boyd did too when he pulled away. Derek could tell Lydia and Kate were fighting the urge to squeal.

"Will to have one!" Boyd said, looking down at where Allison was still holding his hand.

"Oh shit." Derek said under his breath.


End file.
